Trouvaille
by AcquiredMadness
Summary: "Trouvaille..." Alison whispers to herself. "Trouvaille?" Emily raises a brow curiously. "It means something awesome, discovered by chance or stumbled on. Like when you walk in an unknown neighborhood, take a few wrong turns and bam..." Alison slowly turns to face Emily, "You discover a beautiful park no one has ever told you about." [Slight AU]
1. Chapter 1: Clockwork

_**Summary: To prized swimmer at Drexler University in Philadelphia, Emily Fields, everything is like clockwork. That is, until she bumps into Alison DiLaurentis, the "It" girl she went to high school with. Back then, Alison was the most malicious girl in Rosewood, tormented everyone and anyone. However, due to events in her past, she has made a complete 180. Time after time, the two cannot seem to stop running into each other. How long does it take before they realize that maybe its fate…?**_

**Hiii! So, I have been reading fanfictions for quite a while now but never decided to write my own. I have so much joy in reading other people's stories that I feel like even if I was to create something, it wouldn't be nearly as good. But here I am. Hell has frozen over. This is my first fanfic and I'm definitely having mixed emotions about it.**

**About this particular story! It is a slight AU. You still have some things about the past that are very relevant to this story but there are some things I've altered. In the show, you had the five girls all in one group, however, in this story, the four girls were all friends, whereas, Queen-Bee Alison had her own group of friends so the five of them never "bonded" like on the show. There has been no A-threat to any of the four girls (Ali might get something her way, she may not). Although, the known deaths and some events still occurred just by different incidences. Other than the minor changes here and there, I'm going to try to be as realistic as I can to make this fic come to life. Well….PLL-realistic wise because we all know how unrealistic PLL is lmao. I hope you enjoy!**

CHAPTER 1: Clockwork

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

A whistle is blown before a couple claps is made from Coach Braun, signaling the swim team members in the pool to hurdle towards the front.

"Alright ladies, bring it in! As you guys should already know, we have a week before we get ready for our meet against Howard here at home. Now, I already have a clear cut idea of who is doing what in what race. _But!_ There is still some positions to be filled...and some to be taken," Coach Braun says as he scans the waters, looking at his team. "

"What that means is there is _noooo_ such thing as comfort. Just because you've been doing certain races in the past doesn't guarantee you a spot for this upcoming meet. You have to train just as hard and impress me just as well. What you do from this point on tells _me_ where you want to be and tell _you _if you are CAA Championship worthy." He paces a few steps forward and back as he ponders for a second.

"The Main races I'm looking at is the 100 butterfly, 200 yard freestyle, 100 yard backstroke and of course, the main event, the 200 yard freestyle relay. Like I mentioned earlier, some spots are reserved and some spot can be stolen." The coach pauses for a moment. "And what does idea of stolen spots mean, Emily?" Coach Braun asks, causing the entire team to face her.

"That there is no such thing as comfort. We have to train just as hard and impress you just as well," Emily answers back to him.

"Good!" He response with a clap. "Everyone hit the showers and relax for the night. Except you, Amber. The only thing relaxing thing you need to do is hear the relaxing sound of keys being typed away on that keyboard so you can pass your English class."

The team lightly chuckles while Amber makes a mocking face at Coach Braun. Emily quickly gets out of the pool and head to towards the locker room to snag one of the assumed better operating showers. For the past week, the showers have been acting faulty, going from hot to cold at any given moment. It's been reported that certain showers have that switch and she's not trying to be one of its victims today.

Upon entering the locker room, Emily avoid any mindless chit-chat and walk towards her locker to retrieve her towel, soap and shampoo. She mentally makes the decision that she's going to take the second to last shower on the right as she approaches the row of showers_. I don't remember any complaints about this one so it's worth the shot._ _Plumbing don't fail me now._

As the brunette scrubs the shampoo into her hair, thoughts on the speech Coach Braun made creeps into her head. _Out of everyone on the entire team, why did he decide to out me? Does he think I'm getting comfortable? If anything, I think I'm putting in the most work. If anyone is getting comfortable, it's Martha. She knows that she's most likely going to be put to do the 100 butterfly, so she puts in minimum work during conditioning. Why couldn't he call her out? Or is he hinting that I could be replaced? It's guaranteed that I'm in the main event but my position is the uncertain part. I'm anchor; the fastest always gets put as anchor. I know I'm the fastest. Who could even take my spot?_

"AHHHHHHHHH! SHIT!"

The sound of a high pitched scream interrupts Emily's thoughts as someone has chosen the shower of death. The locker room bursts into laughter as some members yell out remarks about how unlucky that swimmer is. Emily slightly chuckles to herself. _Thank you water pipes._

…..

Just finished getting out the shower, the swimmer puts on her DU blue and gold track suit, locks her locker and heads out to the front of the building, saying bye to the people she passes by.

"Hey, Emily! Wait up!" a voice trailing behind Emily yells out. She turns around to see one of her teammates, Jessica, jogging towards her.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Hey. I wanted to say that you did awesome at practice today." She says as she finally reaches.

"Thank you," Emily replies back with a tight smile. "I'm trying to maintain _some_ type of consistency."

"Yeah, I can tell. No idea why Coach would put you on the spot like that," Jessica says tentatively while slowly walking besides the brunette. "You're one of the hardest working swimmers here."

_She had noticed the odd point out too?_ "I guess it's just to keep me on my feet, that's all. No sweat." She responds while opening the door to the parking lot, trying to mask the curiosity of that calling as well.

A cold breeze and grey sky greets the freshly showered swimmers as they walk towards the parking lot.

"I know you and I are listed to be in the 200 relay and I just wanted to tell you that no matter who gets the anchor position, that'll be no hard feelings among us." Jessica says as she recites her words carefully.

Emily stops walking and faces Jessica, surprised at her words of possibly replacing her as anchor. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we all know that you're fast and I'm just as fast. With this extra strength training we've been doing. It could be possible that Coach B could assign me to anchor."

Emily furs her brows and slowly nods, her eyes fixated on the other swimmer. "Well he did say there is no comfort in positions," she says trying to be polite. "Good luck with that." She throws on her fakest, genuine tight lipped smile.

"Yeah." Jessica nods while looking down. "See you tomorrow" she touches Emily's arm before walking off towards her car.

…..

Emily unlocks her backseat car door to throw her in swimming bag then she heads to the driver side. Starting the car, Emily sits and muses for a second before driving off. _Replacing me as anchor? Now I know I'm no big shot but if the team wants any chance of getting to the finals, Jessica would definitely crush that._ Emily shakes her head. _This "I'm going to replace you" game reminds me of junior year all over again with Paige._

…_.Paige_

_I wonder how she's doing… _Emily bites the left corner of her bottom lip as she thinks about her former since Paige left Emily to go to California, their plans of going to the same school together or doing anything together, for that matter, was shot. Paige got a full ride to Stanford while Emily got her ride to Drexler. Communication went from sporadic to rare ever since the move. Sometimes Emily thinks if Paige had forgotten about her and created a new life for herself to live.

"**Emily, I have to go," Paige spits out, cutting off Emily as she began to go on about how things are **_**better now.**_

**Emily's eyes widen as she leans in closer to her girlfriend. "Listen to me! You don't!"**

"**Yes, I do!" Paige strongly reiterates. "I thought about it for months now and I do…" she says lightly as she sweeps the floor with her eyes.**

"**Why?" Emily demands, eyes still wide, glued onto Paige. **_**Why leave now when there is nothing to worry about?**_

"**First, because my parents want me to-"**

"**Ok, well we can fight that," Emily cuts off Paige mid excuse.**

"**I don't want to fight anymore," Paige tiredly responds back, shaking her head.**

**Paige's comeback breaks Emily down as her face shows complete devastation. She desperately searches her girlfriend's eyes for an explanation.**

"**I'm tired of fighting…" Paige's voice cracks as she sadly looks at Emily. "I've used so much energy fighting and being afraid…I'm worried I'm not going to have anything left to just live."**

"**THIS IS THE FINAL BOARDING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE FLIGHT 214 TO SAN FRANSICO. ALL TICKET INVESTORS, PLEASE, MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE GATE." **

**Emily's feels the overwhelming sensation of tears beginning to escape her eyes. She looks down while she takes slow breaths. "Please don't go…" She gently pleads as her chin starts to tremble.**

**Absolutely shattered by hearing the amount of sadness coming from Emily's voice, Paige painfully answers back with a sad smile, "I have to".**

**After a few moments of the agonizing realization that Paige will not stay, Emily gloomily nods her head as she takes a step towards Paige. Paige following her lead as she, too, takes a step towards her girlfriend, not breaking eye contact. Emily leans in to kiss Paige for the last time, making sure she can feel Paige's lips on hers for as long as she can before she pulls her into a tight embrace. Paige firmly latches onto Emily, not ever wanting to let her go. She never wanted to hurt her or leave her stranded but, for the time right now, she has to pretend that this isn't such a bad idea. **_**Right now, this is what's supposed to happen to us.**_

**Emily pulls herself off of Paige, filled with a mixture of anger, regret and despair ruminating throughout her body. Paige bends down to pick up her bag to head towards the exit. She slowly walks backwards, keeping full eye contact with Emily before she turns around to walk down the hallway leading to her gate. Before she turns the corner, Paige looks back one last time at what she's leaving behind. Her beautiful, tall girlfriend who's not saying a word but every other part of her is screaming loudly; her eyes, her mouth, her hands, her legs, begging Paige not to leave her alone in this dark lighted waiting room. Trying her hardest not to break down, Paige faces forward and disappears from sight. **

_Buzz, Buzz._

Snapping out of a recollection, Emily checks her phone to see what notification she had just gotten.

"Hey, Em! HMU when you have time! " – Hanna

Seeing a text from Hanna brought a light grin to Emily's face. She hasn't spoken to her best friend in weeks but they both know that schedules are tight so they'll talk to each other when they have the chance. Emily puts her car into drive and makes an exit out of the parking lot to head towards her apartment.

…..

"Hello, Emily. Coming in from swimming practice?" Jacob, the front desk attendant, asks Emily as she walked through the spacious, business styled lobby of her apartment building.

"Yep. I'm very tired and sore. Do you wanna switch legs with me for the night?" Emily jokingly asks as she approaches the front desk.

"I've been standing on my feet for about six hours. I'm not sure if either of us would benefit from that trade," Jacob winks at the brunette.

"Hmmm…" Emily scrunches up her face and cocks her to the side, looking up at the ceiling. "I think you're right about that one. See you tomorrow, Jacob." Emily taps the desk as she turns to walk in the direction of the elevator.

"Don't forget to snag me a ticket to come see your race!" Jacob calls out to Emily, who is waiting for the elevator doors to open.

"Will do!" Emily calls back, raising her thumb towards the attendant before entering the elevator.

…..

"Where have you been?! I haven't spoken to you in like ages!" Hanna excitedly yells into the phone.

"I've been getting my ass kicked at practice. It hardly allows me to do anything. I wake up, go to class, go to practice, and study whatever I can before I fall asleep on my notes. And that's if I don't have to go to work. Then, I repeat that cycle allll over again." Emily informs Hanna with her phone balanced between her right ear and shoulder as she is unzipping her jacket and removing her track pants.

"That's it? What about social hour? Or parties? You can't work yourself to death, Em."

Emily puts her phone on speaker as she sets it down on her dresser, looking through her drawers. "Only socializing I have is within the classroom, in the pool, at work or the dogs that jump on me when I'm on my way home. That's _well_ enough for me. The parties I do right now are victory parties after my meets which are _always_ enjoyable. That's why I work so hard. To celebrate my success," Emily teases her friend.

"You are so right. I bet they are _wild_. Like parties that include you soaking in Epson salt for about an hour? _Thee craaaziest_!" The blonde sarcastically remarks. "Besides, I have yet to see you in action this year and that's all your fault."

Emily finds an old, tattered grey Avengers shirt and grey cotton sweat shorts. "I will get you tickets to my meet. We have a couple more weeks' worth until the championship. I'll make sure that you get seats to either the finals or the championship." Now comfortably dressed, the brunette grabs her phone, walks across the room into the bathroom and rummages for her night cream.

"Forget finals, I want the championship. I want to see you win the gold and kick the sorry asses who had the mere _thought_ they could go toe to toe with you." Hanna playfully comments. Moments later she is heard thanking someone softly in the background.

Emily stops mid facial cream application and looks at her phone. "Where are you? Are you outside?"

"Yep! In the wonderful streets of New York. That's why I love it here. Doesn't matter if its 3pm or 3am, people are always up and about."

"How is everything going over there? You found any good places to explore your love for fashion? I hear that New York is pretty cut throat with competition." Emily asks, returning to apply her cream.

"It's actually _soooo_ good! I've been kinda bouncing around from company to company, trying to show my potential somewhere and I actually found a home as a design intern that'll last me from now, all through the summer!" Hanna squeals in joy.

"What is it in?" Emily curiously asks as she puts away her container and leaves the bathroom, throwing herself on the bed, laying on her back.

"Luxury. And it's not just _any_ luxury. It's fucking luxury lingerie by Fleur du Mal," the blonde says in her best French accent impersonation.

Emily turns to lay on her stomach. "Flowers of evil?"

"I don't know what the hell it means but they're paying me and giving me exposure so there is no such thing as evil to me. This designer line has been featured in many outlets including Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, V Magazine, Interview, and L'Officiel! Like shit! This is huge!"

"I'm so proud of you, Han! I mean, not only can you work there, you can slip on a little something something for Caleb during afterhours." Emily smiles into the phone as taunts her best friend.

"Haha!" Hanna chuckles. "Not only that, I can send some to you! You know, so you can wear them under your clothes so when that faithful one night stand comes, you'll have something that'll knock the socks off them and get their nipples hard."

"Hanna!" Emily shouts out in embarrassment as she flips on her back again. "I don't do one night stands. The last thing I need is to wake up the next morning with the taste of regret in my mouth."

Hanna bursts into laughter with the thought of Emily trying to escape from her one night of horror. "Regrets make for excellent narratives! I would know because I have the best stories. But I'll text you later, I'm about to meet up with Mr. Hunk himself."

"Ok. Tell Caleb I said hi." Emily says getting ready to end the phone call.

"I will! Love you, Em. Talk to you later! Kisses!" Hanna says as makes smooching noises.

"Love you too, Han. Bye," Emily hangs up the phone and lays it on her night stand next to her bed.

"….. One night stand. Yeah right." Emily chuckles to herself before she shuts off the lamp beside her and turns in for the night.

**Soooooo…how was it? Was it cringe-worthy or actually something decent? I'm sorry if this/the following chapters become too long. I don't want to rush anything; I want you guys to go on this trip with me. So it might be slow within the first few chapters. I want you to see, feel, and understand the emotions of the characters. **

**Kinda….like….if you were some mysterious stalker watching them…**

**Like I mentioned before, this is my first story so try not to throw huge stones at me. Comments/Reviews would be extremely extremely appreciated! Tell me how you felt, my child. I'm already working towards the next chapter, however, classes are winding down and I have research papers due so I'll try to update it by next week. I won't leave you guys hanging, I promise!**

**Thank you for reading! **


	2. Chapter 2: The Idiots In This City

**I am literally so happy by the response I've gotten from just the 1****st**** chapter! Prior to publishing, I was sitting around, debating whether I should even start &amp; upload this story. Let me tell you! I'm so glad I did! You guys have given me the power of speed to write some more. As a token of my appreciation, here is Chapter 2 :)**

CHAPTER #2: The Idiots in This City

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

"Well… If no one has any questions, I guess we can call it quits for the day." Professor Handler says as he disconnects the projector. "Reminder! _Go. Over. Your. Notes._ I _cannot_ stress that enough. The earlier you start, the easier it'll be to reeeetaaaaain." The Professor drags out as his students start wrapping up to leave. "You don't want to bullshit this test because all you'll get back is a bullshit grade that'll drop your bullshit GPA which will cost you bullshit money. You'll be crying bullshit tears and will probably breakup with your bullshit lover and just end up dying in a pile of _bullshit_. All because you tried to bullshit my test. Don't bullshit! Won't be no bullshit! Now get outta my class, you rodents."

The class starts laughing as a few students walk up to the professor to ask questions.

Emily scams over her Western History notes one last time before putting everything into her bag. As she's loading her belongings, she glances up at the clock on the wall in front of her. _9:50am. I have exactly 10 minutes to get from this level 4 class to dressed and in the pool….I think I can make it. _

Emily says bye to her professor and speed walks from the class to the elevators. She gets in an empty elevator and presses level 2 to get to the parking lot attached to the school. As she patiently waits for the doors to close, she feels her phone vibrate in her jacket. She grabs it and sees that a local number is calling her. _Who's this?_

"Hello?"

"Hey, Emily! This is Ryan." The voice says.

_Oooh, Ryan from work._

"Hey, Ryan. What's going on?" Emily asks as the elevator dings, letting her out on her floor.

"I need a _huge_ favor. Do you mind covering me today at 11:30? I have a meeting with my doctor and I can't reschedule. If I don't show up, they're going to label me as a no-show and I'm gonna be sent to the back of the operation waiting list which is really fucking long."

Emily unlocks her Granite Crystal 2014 Dodge Charger, gets into the driver's seat and throws her bag in the passenger. "I don't know, Ryan. I have swim practice until 3 today and I-

"Please! I'll definitely owe you one. Any time you need someone to cover you, I'm there. If you need _anything_ at all, I got you! Please!" Ryan begs, trying to sweeten the deal. "I tried to call Steph and Tracie but they couldn't. You're my only hope! Please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE-"

"_Oooookay!_ Okay! I'll tell my coach I'll have to leave early." Emily surrenders to what sounds like a depressing whale cry on the other line. _Should I even ask?_

"_I FUCKING LOVE YOU!" _Ryan exclaims._ "_I swear on what I said. Anything you need, call me. Alright?"

_Ok, I won't ask._ "Alright. Good luck with that doctor's meeting."

…...

Standing by the pool, Emily adjusts her swim cap just as Coach Braun walks past.

"Hey, Coach?" Emily calls out.

Braun turns around and walks back in the swimmers direction. "What's up, Fields?"

"I wanted to let you know that I'm going to have to leave practice early. I was called in for work."

The coach approvingly nods his head. "Alright, that's no problem. But since you're going to miss conditioning. I can trust that you're going to catch yourself up on your own time…?" Braun inquiries.

Emily reassures him, "Of course. I'll make up for it, when I get off."

"Alright," Braun smiles as he pats Emily on the back. He turns to the rest of the swimmers that are floating idly in the water. "C'mon everybody! Warms ups! Alice lead them! Let's go!"

…...

Leaving the parking garage in front of her job, Emily crosses the street in her all black uniform attire accompanied with a high ponytail. She walks into an establishment that reads "_Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse_". Upon entering, the thick smell of freshly cooked hamburgers and fries fills the brunette's nostrils. Walking up the stairs, passing the brick walls covered by jerseys, banners and other sport memorabilia, Emily is greeted by a few co-workers waiting for opening.

"Hey E'Maestro!" Jack's, a tall buffed young guy with tattoos, voice booms out.

"Hey, guys," Emily smiles while walking over to the bar with Jack on the other side.

"What are you doing here dressed up for duty? You don't work today." Jack remembers as he's rinsing a few mugs.

"Oh, Ryan called me today," Emily goes on to say as she puts her hands into her pocket. "He needed someone to cover him while he goes to his doctor's appointment."

"Oh, it was today?" A small, red-haired female coworker stands beside Emily.

"Yeah…" The brunette turns her body towards her female coworker. "Do you, by any chance, know what it's for? I was going to ask but then felt like I would be invading."

"He didn't tell you?" The redhead responds back, propping her hands on her hips.

Emily pouts as she shakes her head, indicating she has no idea.

"He's getting surgery to get circumcised," Jacks answers in complete laughter, causing the redhead and three other coworkers sitting down to laugh as well.

"He didn't get it done when he was a baby so he has to get it this late in a game," Jacks manages to spit out while still in laughter.

"He's been walking around with Noo-Noo from Teletubbies in his pants." One of the three other coworkers comment, causing the room to erupt with laughter.

"That's exactly what the girls say when they see it for the first time! _No! No!_"The second coworker chimed in, chuckling along with the others while Emily cringes, smiling awkwardly.

"Man, I bet when he hooks up with chicks, the only thing he can offer them in the bed is nostalgia. Pull down his pants and boom. Reunited with Snuffleupagus." The first coworker continued to joke as the laughter got even louder with Jack leaning over the faucet, holding his sides.

"_Oooookaaaay._" Emily says as she walks towards the other side of the bar joining Jack, trying to disperse the roast session. "We should be opening any second now. Let's get moving."

Jack wipes his eyes as he stands up straight. "Shit, that's _all_ I needed to get worked up. Let's start cracking! He opens the freezer as he shovels the ice around before he lightly chuckles to himself. "Haha….Snuffleupagus…"

…...

"Jack, I'm taking my break!" Emily yells out as she leaves the backroom. She sees her red-haired coworker, Valerie, sitting at an empty table in the back, eating a basket of fries.

"Hey, Val," Emily greets as she pulls a chair next to the small girl.

"Hey. Hey. How's your swimming going?" Val asks before taking a sip of her soda.

"It's great but it seems like I'm coming home with more and more sore spots. I just feel so tense all the time." Emily explains as she grabs a fry.

"If you're trying to get me to massage you, it's not gonna work…. You have to at least buy me dinner first." Valerie flashes a smile as she jokes around. "But seriously. You need just a day of relaxation. To pamper yourself, ya know?"

"Well, it's too much to go to any Spas here. They charge an arm and a leg."

Valerie picks up another fry and dips it in a small paper container filled with ketchup. "You've ever been to Lush?"

Emily shakes her head.

"A couple blocks to the left," she points behind her in the direction. You know where _Prime Rib_ is, right? Continue to go straight on Locust. When you hit the second light, turn left onto 16th street. From there you gotta find parking. It right across from Starbucks."

Emily groans at the thought of battling her way through people, trying to find nonexistent parking in a busy downtown.

"Or! Or," Valerie laughs, "You can walk there. Make a left and go straight for about 3 blocks, make a right on 16th street and it'll be on your left. Lush Cosmetics. Has everything from hair to face to body. A little bit on the pricey side but if you find the right products, worth every penny in my opinion."

Emily grabs a couple of fries, "Everyone raves about how they wish they could live in a city but fail to realize the horrors of it."

"Ahh…The city. _Gotta_ respect it. Especially downtown Philly. A crammed location filled with angry people and fucking one ways that cause you to want to rip your hair out. Of course, we can't forget that you always have that _one_ dumbass that decides to park his car right in the middle of the street just to run in and get his fucking pizza that he couldn't just park on the damn side and not cause a fucking standstill because his ass is incompetent," Valerie snarls as she balls her right hand into a fist, squeezing her fries which causes Emily to laugh. "But you bike around all the time so you don't know the struggle of wanting to kill a man."

"Actually, I have to get a new bike. The gears and chain are all out of whack so for right now, I'm cruising."

"Well, I say you should walk there. Your car is fine in the garage opposed to you having to deal with fighting grandma for parking. You're a swimmer, your legs can handle it." Valerie mentions as she munches on more fries.

…...

Emily grabs her keys and phone before jogging down the stairs that leads to outside. "Bye, guys! See you tomorrow!"

A collection of goodbyes assemble as Emily opens the door and heads towards the parking garage directly in front of her job. Emily checks her phone to see what time Lush closes. _Nine…It's only 7:30. Okay, more than enough time._

Parking right next to the exit, Emily unlocks her Charger and reaches into the middle compartment to retrieve her earbuds and wallet. _I rather just walk it. 10 minutes to and back won't kill me._

The sky emits a beautiful array of a blue, yellow and orange mixture as the sun begins to set. There is a fairly nice amount of people walking around downtown, going to different venues. However, the streets are still as busy. Starting out in a straight path, Emily puts her earbuds in as she scans through her music playlist to find a song to assist her with her travels. _Hmm. A throwback. I haven't heard this song in a while._

_"Regrets collect like old friends...  
Here to relive your darkest moments.__  
I can see no way. I can see no waaaay..."_

Emily puts the volume a few notches below max volume and responds to any unread messages she got while she was at work.

"Hey Emmy. How's everything going in philly? On the playground is where ur spending most of ur days? ;)" –Dad

_(Sent) Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool and all swimming some laps outside of the school :P_

"Would it be illegal to smack the guy next to me with my Law book?" –Spencer

_(Sent) You should check the contents of your book to see if you would be found guilty in a court of law, Attorney Hastings._

"I got you! I am yours for a day..." –Ryan

Emily cringes at Ryan's text as all she can think about is "Noo Noo" &amp; "Snuffleupagus" _Great. Childhood ruined._

_(Sent) I'm going to put that in my back pocket for later :)_

Emily puts her phone in her back pocket and continues on her walk to Lush.

_"Shake it off, shake it ooooff!__  
Shake it off, shake it ooooff!  
Ooo-wooooah!"_

...

Across the street from the department, Emily proceeds to walk the crosswalk before she receives a text back from Spencer

"Well….I could just say that I-

A moonlight blue 2012 Audi S5 suddenly comes to a screeching halt as the driver comes within a few feet of almost hitting Emily.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Emily blurts out as she rips her earbuds out of her ears, nearly scared to death. "PAY ATTENTION TO THE DAMN ROAD INSTEAD OF BEING ON YOUR PHONE!" The sudden rise causes other pedestrians and drivers to slow down to see what all the ruckus was coming from.

The driver of the Audi, scared half to death as well, put their hands out as a surrendering gesture while apologizing. Emily continues to walk the crosswalk as she mutters to herself, "Stupid ass..." Now with instant sour attitude, Emily makes it to the other side of the street and walks a few yards before she approaches the Lush Cosmetics store.

Immediately she's greeted with soft lighting, sweet smells and pop music playing lightly from the speakers overhead. _Not too bad. _Standing in front of the entrance, Emily goes into her phone where she looks at what Valerie recommended her to get.

"Welcome to Lush cosmetics! Let me know if you need any help, okay?" A chipper voice from behind the register tells the new comer. Emily nods and walks towards the massage bars.

"**Wiccy magic muscles," she remembers hearing her coworker say. "One of my friends is a wild land firefighter so you can imagine the sore muscle she has. One day she pulls a muscle in her leg and could barely walk. As soon as she rubbed that sucker into her sore muscles, there was like instant relief." **

Emily scans through the assortment of bars on the selves. _So many different choices to choose from… _

"Do you need any help finding something?" A small voice appears from behind her.

Emily, still looking at the different bars, answers back, "Yeah. Wiccy magic muscles. Can you tell me a little about that?"

"Sure. Wiccy Magic Muscles is our spicy massage bar. It's really good for aching and sore muscles. The first time you use it, you'll notice the sensation of peppermint and cinnamon spice oils which make the skin feel warm and tingly."

Emily finds the massage bar and starts examining the box.

"The red pieces on the top are aduki beans, which works into the muscles like firm fingertips for a relaxing massage." The worker says as she points to the beans on the bar. "When you've worked yourself into a pretzel in yoga class, or just had a long day, this would definitely be a miracle worker."

"Or when someone nearly runs you over because they were texting," Emily sarcastically adds as she continues to look at the bar. "The idiots in this city never cease to amaze me…" The brunette murmurs to herself.

The worker hesitates for a second, wondering if she should respond to that comment.

"…_I'm _that idiot…I'm so sorry-"

Emily looks up at the Lush worker for the first time and notices that she was, in fact, the driver. Although she couldn't get a good look at her because of the darkening skies, she recognizes that apologetic look.

"I had gotten some news and went to check for a split second. I am _incredibly_ sorry." She confesses.

Emily slowly nods while still squinting at the worker, "…It's ok…"

Another worker taps the blonde on the shoulder as she whispers something. Emily's helper nods and looks back at her. "Hmmm…But if that's all you need, there you go." She gives a tight lipped smile and turns to walk away before Emily lightly calls out her name.

"Alison…?"

"Yes?" The blonde says as she turns back around.

"Your name…its Alison…"

Alison looks at her name tag and faintly chuckles, "Yeah. It's supposed to be Alison with one 'l' but they put two by accident."

"No…Y-You're Alison DiLaurentis."

Alison slightly cocks her head to the side in confusion.

"I went to high school with you in Rosewood."

Alison does one head nod as she gives a smile while her heart beat starts pacing just a bit. "I'm sorry, I'm a little bit hazy right now but I can't put a name to your face…"

"Emily. Emily Fields. I had a few classes with you over the years," Emily reminds her.

Alison ponders for a second before it all starts coming back, "Fields! Right...you changed a little bit." Alison observes Emily, "But it looks good! If i remember correctly, You were a star athlete in that school. Volleyball was it?" The blonde tries to recall.

"Swimming," Emily politely corrects her.

"Ah, swimming, yes. How could I forget? After every meet you guys had, they would always say your name over the intercom, informing everyone of what new race you won. It was like your name was a part of the morning announcements." Alison jokes as Emily looks down laughing.

"Yeah, they did kinda over kill that," She looks back at Alison, "What brings you here out of all the places in the world?"

"School. I go to The Art Institutes for fashion design not too far from here. Besides, I needed to get out of that town as quickly as possible. It was like a black hole…"Alison trails off as she looks in a different direction.

"Yeah, it was…I'm…sorry about what happened to your mother," Emily carefully treads over her words as she rubs the back of her neck.

Alison looks back at Emily for a few moments. "It's been nearly three years now. Can you believe it? Seems like it was just yesterday we were walking the halls of Rosewood..."

Emily nods as she looks down at the floor again. _What do I say? What do I say?!_

"…But yeah, you should have no problem with this bar. I personally like using it after a shower because you can feel your heart beating in your fingertips," Alison informs while she wiggles her fingers, making Emily crack a smile, which makes Alison smile as well. "To use it, you just warm up the coco butter and shea butter on the skin and then you just glide it on." Alison pretends to demonstrate. "You can use it like a solid lotion or give yourself a massage as well. Then voila. You feel one hundred times better."

Emily nods as she looks at the bar again. "Well, I guess I'll be getting this one then," Emily smiles.

"_Good_ choice. When you're done, you can see Amy at checkout. It was nice to see you again, Emily." Alison tells the brunette as she puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you too. See you around." Emily smile as reciprocates the mutual expression.

Alison turns and walks a few feet before she disappears behind a door leading to the backroom.

Emily stands there still in shock that she even ran into Alison after all these years. A girl that ruined lives in Rosewood. A girl who would snap her fingers and have just about everyone at her feet. A girl that most people couldn't stand to hear her name without busting an artery. Even though, she was incredibly rude to people, Emily never really got that side from her whenever they were together in class.

"**I've always wanted to go to France." Freshman Emily says as she studying her French vocab words with her assigned partner, Alison.**

"**Oh really? Where would you want to visit?" Alison questions as she observes Emily.**

"**Places like The South of France, The French Rivera, Eiffel Tower…. Places like that," Emily responds as she looks at Alison for a quick second before looking back at her paper.**

**Noticing how shy Emily is, Alison smirks for a second before responding, "When I go to those places…..how about I bring you something back? Like a souvenir...Would you like that?" Alison asks keeping her eyes directly on Emily.**

**Emily looks up at Alison and catches her eyes looking directly into hers which makes her even more nervous. "Yeah….That-that'll be nice." Emily smiles as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.**

**Alison smiles back and nods her head, before looking back at her book. "****Ce sera notre petit secret."**

_Translation: "__Ce sera notre petit secret." – "This will be our little secret."_

**Well, well, well. Would you look at that? Emily running into Alison in a retail store or, more like, Alison nearly running over Emily before she walks into a retail store that she works at. What a great story to tell people. As we notice from the slightly altered flashback, Emily had tiny emotions towards Alison when she was a tiny one. What do they call that thing when someone you like acknowledges you and your body starts shutting down, you forget everything and just start malfunctioning...? But what does that matter? That was yeeeeears ago ;) **

**I'm glad you guys are liking the story so far. I hope it has made you chuckle a few times. Again, comments and reviews are very much appreciated! They honestly give me more ambition to write. **

**Quickly, funny thing; the places you hear me mentioning in this story, I actually looked up. I basically had to map out the entire city so I know how to make things work. I feel like I know downtown Philly like the back of my hand and I have never been there. I could give you directions and everything! Lmao. But I'm here to bring quality to you guys so I don't mind :)**

**Sneak peak of the next installation! Chapter 3 is called, **_**"**__**Stalking me, are you?**__**"**_

**?!Who's stalking who?!**

**Welp. Until next time, my friends….**


	3. Chapter 3: Stalking Me, Are You?

**Hi, Everyone! **

**I quickly want to thank you guys so much for your love and support. I've gotten so many ideas for this story and I can't wait for you guys to aboard this train!**

**I want to give a quick shout out to "Emison" &amp; "InLoveWithEmison". Thank you guys for such kind words! 3 **** I kinda find it so funny how people are already expecting Emily to have one night stand with someone. Like C'mon guys! Do you **_**honestly **_**see Emily getting into something like that…... *quietly sips drink and looks around***

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter!  
**

CHAPTER #3: Stalking Me, Are You?

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed. 

Getting out of the shower after an early practice dismal, Emily puts on a white tee with a two toned, black and red vest. She slides into her black jeans and sits on the bench to put on her black ankle socks and black tennis shoes.

"Where are you off to looking ever so nifty?" A voice sounds.

Emily turns to see that her assistant coach, Coach Sahara, walking towards her from just entering the locker room.

"My job." Emily smiles, "I work at Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse downtown."

"Really?" The coach asks interestedly, "My son just told me about that place not too long ago. He said you guys were hosting the superbowl game there. He also said that you guys have the best wings he has _ever_ tasted." The coach raves as she leans against a locker across from Emily.

Emily chuckles as she ties her shoes. "The secret is in the sauce. I honestly love their wings as well. Definitely best around town."

"What position to do you work as? Hostess with the mostess?"

"More like bartender with the…splendor." Emily laughs as she makes up a rhyme on the fly.

"Oh? You're a bartender?" Coach Sahara asks, unable to imagine Emily pouring drinks to older, creepier men.

Emily puts her hands on her lap, "Yep. I mean it has its pros and cons but it's a good working environment."

"What's your shift looking like today? I know places like that stay open late."

"Well since I'm part time, I'm looking at 2-9 today. Sometimes I have the luck of getting out early, sometimes I stay until closing at 2am."

"Work until 2 in the morning pouring drinks, wake up at 8 for class, then swim until 3-4ish just to go back to work until late…How are you passing your classes?"

Emily stands up as she puts her swimming bag over her shoulder. "Moderation, time management and a lot of studying during breaks."

…...

Working with a small crowd of people around this time of 3:24pm, Emily and the rest of the employees are fairly enjoying themselves. People aren't complaining, the workers are giving the ol' "Cavanaugh hospitality" to make the customers feel at home, and there are only a few guys at the bar. None which are giving Emily a problem so everything is running smoothly.

The establishment's music playlist changes from one song to a fairly popular tune.

"_Adult…Adult!"_

"Ooooooooh shit!" Jack yells out as he claps to the sound of the drums.

Without warning, the employees of the Rittenhouse either start tapping their feet, bopping their heads, or start to shimmy their shoulders. Emily, knowing the old song, starts to sway side to side as she's wiping down the bar in front of her.

Jack starts off the sing-along, singing into a spoon like it's a mic, "Afternoon in the homeroom, they're about to let you go. And the locker slam on the plan you had tonight…"

Valerie, dancing while swiping around empty tables, takes on the next line, "You've been messing around with a _boyfriend_ maybe better left alone. There's a wise guy that you know could put you right."

"In the lot, the boy that's idling by doesn't rev your heart. Cause it's only lonely spots he shares with _yooooou_!" Another employee, Sonny, serenades to a customer as he's setting down her order of a Buffalo Chicken Wrap with a side of fries.

Jack finishes off the first verse, "And the long halls and the gray walls are gonna split apart!  
Believe it or not, there's _liiiiiife _after high school...and that's why"

Everyone chimes loudly in sync, "The student body got a bad reputation!"

"Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" Emily and a few customers proudly ad-lib.

"What they need is adult education!" The crew each does a small dance in their own style, Emily shaking her shoulders while drying a mug with a white hand towel. She gets another beer request from two of the four guys sitting at the bar. She nods her while she finishes drying.

"You're back to school, it's a bad situation! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" Everyone sings in unison.

"But what you want is _aaaaaan_ adult…education!" Jack finishes the chorus following with an air guitar.

During the guitar break, Emily faces the shelf with all the alcohol in them. She sways side to side while looking for the beers. "Oh yeah!" she sings out loud. She throws the hand towel around her neck and reaches for the two beers. She does a spin towards the two guys but instead is greeted by two other people.

"Alison?" Emily's face instantly drops, in full embarrassment.

The place dies down for the second half of the song as people are getting back to work.

"Don't mind me," Alison laughs as she puts her hands up, seeing that she had caught the brunette during a performance. "I came to get a quick bite but looks like I walked right into a halftime show."

Emily nervously laughs as Jack slides over towards the blonde and her friend, "With the price of two for one, here at _Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse,_ you can get not only freshly cooked food and a cold drink, you can also get sporadic concerts from the staff." Jack says in his best 'radio' voice as he teases Alison. Alison laughs at his random sense of humor.

"And with the extra payment of $9.99, you can have our hot bartender, Emily here, dance to any song of your choosing."

Alison raises an eyebrow as Emily throws the hand towel at Jack's face.

"What?" Jack plays innocently as he removes the towel from his face, "You want me to raise it to 20 bucks?"

"Jack. _Leave_. Now." Emily says through her fake smile as Alison starts laughing to herself.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," Jack extends his hand, waiting for Alison to mention her name.

"Alison and this is Miranda." Alison introduces as she points to the other girl she walked in with.

"Nice to meet you, Alison and Miranda. My name is Jack." He greets as he puts a hand on his chest. "Please feel free to take a table or a bar stool and either Emily or another employee will take care of you." Jack flashes a charming smile and nods his head towards the girls before he winks at Emily and walks off.

"I'm gonna go ahead and order. Whatta'you wanna eat?" Miranda, a taller tanned, black haired girl in her early 20's, asks Alison in a thick New Jersey accent.

"Chicken tenders with fries, please." Alison answers back.

Miranda grabs a table and immediately starts conversing with one of the servers who is probably one of her friends

_It's so weird hearing Alison be nice to somebody without having ill intentions…_ Emily thought to herself.

"So…" Alison starts off as she props herself into one of the bar stools. "You run into me during my working hours and now it seems like it's my turn to walk into yours."

Emily, still embarrassed by Alison's sudden appearance during her music breakdown, combs her fingers through the root of her hair. "Yeah, sorry about of all that earlier."

"Why are you apologizing?" Alison squints her eyes at Emily, "It looked like you guys were really having fun. We could _never_ pull something like that at Lush. That's practically an instant write up."

Emily smiles a bit, "Yeah, I guess you're right." The bartender grabs a glass cup from a shelf underneath the bar, "What would you like to drink?"

"Water is fine. Can't go back to work tipsy." Alison jokes.

Emily looks at Alison while she pours her a glass of water, "You're still at work?"

Alison unzips her jacket and she lays it in her lap, "Yeah. I just ran over here with Miranda for something to eat. And _here_ you are. What are you doing working here anyway?"

"Well, it's not far from what I'm used to," Emily explains as she places the blonde's water on a coaster. "Working at The Brew in Rosewood, I served coffee and light appetizers. Now, I serve beer to married men who, _inconveniently_, slip off their rings when they see me. You can say I really moved up the food chain." Emily looks down as she grumbles to herself. She looks up back at Alison who has she head cocked to the side. "But I make good money so I'm not complaining," Emily gives Alison a tight lipped smile.

"Yesterday, you asked me why I was here in Philly but you never told me the reason why you're here." Alison questions the bartender.

"Same reason as you. I go to Drexler University."

"Do you swim there?"

Emily nods, "We're actually ending the season in a few weeks. One more meet before Finals then the Championship."

"That's awesome. I hope you make it all the way." Alison smiles at Emily.

"Thank you," Emily thanks the blonde before Sonny comes around and delivers Alison's chicken tenders and fries.

"Thank you," Alison recognizes the server. She breaks off a piece of her tenders and dips it into the side ketchup.

"Aren't you gonna eat with your friend?" Emily asks as she nods in the direction of Miranda.

Alison looks back at Miranda, who is still talking to one of Emily's coworkers. "Doesn't look like she needs my company that much."

A young guy about 23 to 25 approaches the bar, "Excuse Miss?"

Emily immediately attends to the patron with a smile, "How can I help you?"

"Can I have a bottle of Blue Moon, Bud and a Golden Monkey for my table, please?" the guy smiles at Emily.

Emily slides over her calculator that's been laying on the bar and starts punching in numbers to calculate the amount. "That'll be $15.15" she looks up at the drinker.

The guy takes out his wallet, pulls out a twenty dollar bill, and hands it over to Emily. "Keep the change as a tip" he winks.

_$4.85? You big baller. _"Twenty dollar bill" Emily says aloud as she must as a way of knowing the amount received so she doesn't get ripped off. "Thank you," Emily smiles back at him, dispersing the money into its correct locations. She moves to the cooler and digs for the bottles. First, she pulls out a Bud Light and sets it on the bar. She goes back and digs for the other two before she sets them beside the Bud. She turns to the side, grabs the three bottles in her right hand and pulls out her bottle opener from her back pocket in her left. With her index finger inside the top opening of the bottle opener, she flips the opener speedily so she's grasping it tightly in her palm. Bringing her hand from behind the bottles, she opens the three beers in one quick and fluid motion with the caps flying off the bottles. Now newly opened beers, she places them on the bar counter for the young guy to pick up.

Both Alison and the drinker look at Emily with amazement.

"I love it when she does that…" Jack says while walking past the two, joining Emily in the bar to attend to other customers.

"Here you go." Emily smiles.

"Wow…that was _incredibly_ sexy." The guy replied in awe. "Thank you." He says as he takes the beers and walks to his table.

"Where did you learn to do _that_?" Alison asks, still in admiration.

"You pick up a few tricks and tips when you work heavy and demanding crowds" Emily laughs as she picks up the bottle caps and throws them in the garbage.

"I think he liked it," Alison murmurs to herself as she takes a sip of her water. "He's cute."

"Ehhh…He looked like that guy from the movie 'The Boy Next Door' with JLo." She adds while she begins to sweep.

"Ryan Guzman? He's hot!"

"If you like the stalker type."

Alison looks at Emily while she's sweeping, trying to catch onto something, "Well, what's your type then?"

Emily ponders for a second, debating if she should truly answer that question. _Wait, doesn't she know I like girls? Everyone in Rosewood knew I was dating Paige back then._ She knew that if she gives an inkling that she isn't into guys, the men collected at the bar would definitely perk up and that's the _last_ thing she wants. Because that's how men are. They _love_ a lesbian.

"I don't really have a type." Emily shakes her head. "I feel like types confine you. If you go after a certain category of people, you miss out on others that could be beneficial to you." Emily looks up at Alison and shrugs, "I like what I like."

"I have a type…" Alison starts to explain.

"What kind?"

Alison holds up a handful of fries in both hands, "French fries is the only _thing_ that I like," the blonde sings as she moves her hand up and down.

Emily bursts out into laughter as she watches Alison dance with fries in her hands. _That was really cute…_

Miranda comes up behind the dancing blonde, "Hey, A. You ready to go?"

Alison nods her head as she stuffs the fries in her mouth. "How much was my order?"

Miranda looks at the bill in her hands, "$13."

Alison nearly chokes as she heard her coworker respond with a price she knows can't be right.

"_$13?!_ Just for _this?!_" Alison gasped as she held up a half-eaten chicken tender.

"_Yeeeeeah_," Jack adds in as he leaves the bar, "The menu is _kinda_ on the pricey side…"

Alison looks at Emily wide eyed before she shakes her head, digging into her purse. "Do you know how much $13 can get me at McDonalds? A lot." She gives Miranda a $20 bill and Miranda goes to pay the order. Alison takes out a $5 bill and hands it to Emily.

"What's that for?" Emily looks at the blonde's hand.

"The water."

"The water was free of charge."

"Then it's a tip…for your little performance." Alison smirks.

Emily smiles at the floor then proceeds to take the money out of Alison's hand, "Thank you but you should just erase that moment out of existence."

"Haha. I'm never gonna let you live that down." Alison laughs as she gets out of her seat.

Emily tenses up for a brief second as she puts her tip in her drawer. Hearing Alison say those words instantly brought her back to Rosewood. Those moments where Alison would say things like that to people just to ruin their lives.

Miranda comes back with Alison's change as she pockets her own. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Alison looks to Emily, "Nice seeing you _again_, Emily."

"Nice to meet you too, Emily" Miranda waves.

"You too, Miranda." Emily nods and looks to Alison, "Bye, Alison. Thanks for visiting. Come see us again soon." Emily responds with the line she has to tell all her customers.

Alison waves at the brunette as she begins to walk out with her coworker.

Jack returns to the bar with a bucket full of ice. "She's cute. I say you should go after that," He comments, being one of the very few workers knowing Emily's orientation.

"What?" Emily exclaims in shock that Jack even uttered those words.

"There was _obviously_ a connection between you two with you smiling at the floor so much. Who is she? A childhood friend or something?"

"Childhood? Yes. Friend? Not exactly."

"Why? Why weren't you friends?" Jack inquires as he leans against the bar.

"Don't you have something to do like _your job_?" Emily changes the subject on her nosy coworker.

"C'mon E'Maestro! You can tell me, _anything_." He whines, "We're homies! I tell you all kinds of shit because why? That's the bro code."

"Well, bro code those patrons walking in," Emily nudges in the direction of a group off the clock men coming towards the bar.

"Shit. Happy hour." Jack whispers as he looks at his watch, "You get the second half."

"Welcome to Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse!" Both bartenders smile as they greet the men.

"What can I serve you?"

...

Clocking out of work a little after nine, Emily sees an incoming call from Aria as she's walking across the street towards the parking garage.

"Hey, Aria."

"Hey Em! What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just got out of work, on my way home. How are things with you?"

"Everything's I great I-"

"Hey Emily!" A voice on Aria's side cuts her off

Emily laughs, "Hey, Ezra."

"As you can tell, I'm here home with Ezra."

"Really? I could hardly notice."

"How was work? Anything interesting happen?" Aria asks knowing that working at a bar must come with crazy stories.

"Nothing major. Had a surge at happy hour but everything was smooth." Emily debates if she should disclose another set of information from work. "I ran into someone..." Emily says as she unlocks her vehicle

"Who? Who?" Aria owls, curiously.

"It's someone we know."

"Someone we know…Jenna?"

"No."

"Lucas?"

"Nope."

"Mona?"

"Na uh."

"Noel?"

"Close..."

"Close to Noel?"

"Mhmm." Emily starts her car.

Aria ponders as she mentally skims all the students that attended Rosewood High. "Alison?"

"_Yep_."

"You ran into Alison?" Aria asks as she becomes more intrigued.

"Yeah. Twice. Yesterday at her job then today at my job." Emily informs as she drives out of the parking garage and on route to her apartment.

"What happened? What did she do? Did she talk to you or ignore you? What does she look like? Does she look the same? Why is she there?"

"Ok, _slow down_." Emily cuts Aria off before she could ask any more questions. "She works at Lush Cosmetics. She assisted me with finding a massage bar," Emily clarifies as she leaves out the part of Alison almost running her over. "She's a lot nicer these days."

"No she's not. She's only being nice because she's at work and can't threaten you to buy something. Don't fall for that, Em." Aria advises her best friend, clearly not believing the antics.

"No, you don't understand, Aria. You can actually tell that she has changed. She says-"

"Emily, people like her don't change. Like _at all. _They're manipulative and know how to play with people's emotions because they lack their own. Tell her, Ezra!" Aria puts the phone to Ezra's ear while he's licking whip cream off his fingers.

"Uhhh, Yeah. People like Alison simply don't change overnight. She has that malice rooted deep inside of her. Her whole ordeal seems to have people do whatever she wants, however she wants it." Aria takes the phone and continues on.

"This is the same girl who bullied just about everyone in the whole damn town."

"Which is amazing," Ezra murmurs to himself.

"Ok? When she found out my dad was having an affair, any _normal_ person would console me and not tell a word to anyone because that's what courtesy is. But no. We're talking about Alison, so that courtesy instantly turns to cruelty as she fucking _blackmailed_ me into telling my mom. She said if I didn't do it, she would. I mean who the fuck does that? A _psychopath_. That's who. _Patrick Bateman _from American Psycho would do something like that."

Emily annoyingly rolls eyes and rubs her temple as she approaches a red light. "I know what she _did_, Aria. I was living there too."

"Well, you must have forgotten all the shit she put people through. Don't let a couple years and a new place make you dismiss her spite. Yeah, she flashes a smile but always remember that 9 times out of 10, it's not genuine."

A street away from her apartment, Emily decides to stop at Rite Aid to pick up a few things. She pulls into the store's parking lot. "Alright...Well, I'm about to walk into the store to get something. I'll text you later when I get home."

"Ok. Oh! Quickly before I forget. Can you put Ezra and I down for tickets for your championship swim meet? We want to come support you!"

Emily parks into a parking spot. "The championship isn't here yet. I don't even know if I'll make it past the finals."

"Do you even know who you are? Of course you're gonna make it to the championship!" Aria reminds the brunette.

Emily lightly laughs to herself, "Alright. I'll text you information as it comes up."

"Alright. Bye, Em! Love you!"

"Love you too!" Ezra yells out in the background.

"Love you guys too. Bye." Emily hangs up her phone and breathes in a deep breath. Hearing Aria rant on about Alison, annoyed her. After seeing Ali at work, she can definitely tell that Alison isn't the same "monster" she used to be. _But...What if Aria is right...?_ Emily shakes her head as she pulls her key out of the ignition and makes her way into Rite Aid.

...

Emily is looking at two different products of night creams with a few cleaning products and deodorant cradled in her arm. She reads the back of one of the creams when she hears, what she thought, an employee asking her if she needed any help.

"No, I'm ok. Thank you." Emily looks up at the employee.

Who is no employee at all.

"Stalking me, are you?" Emily asks as she shifts her body weight onto her right leg.

Alison laughs as she looks around with an assortment of chips and cookies in her hands. "If I didn't know any better, _you_ keep placing yourself in _my_ path."

"No, you're stalking me." Emily teases as she looks back at her night cream, putting one back onto the shelf.

"Don't be so silly," Alison remarks as she walks closer to Emily. She notices the night cream the brunette chose over her mental debate of 'which is better?'

"You don't want to get that." She says as she points at the 'Aveeno Active Night Cream' container in Emily's hands. "That cream contains Tocopheryl Acetate, which is a synthetic Vitamin E. For some, it causes itchy hives. It also has Vitamin B3 which, a lot of people have reported, burns their skin." Alison picks out an entirely separate night cream and hands it to the brunette. "Here. Take this. Neutrogena Naturals Night Cream. It is noncomedegenic, meaning it won't clog your pores. Its light and soaks in leaving your face feeling quenched, smooth &amp; hydrated." Alison gives Emily a closed smile

Emily looks at the blonde but all she can hear is Aria's voice.

"**Emily, people like her don't change. Like **_**at all. **_**They're manipulative…"**

"**She has that malice rooted deep inside of her..."**

"**Yeah, she flashes a smile but always remember that 9 times out of 10, it's not genuine…"**

Emily silences the voices as she puts her night cream down and takes the one Alison recommended instead.

"How did that massage bar work for you?" Ali asks.

"It was perfect." Emily responds with a half-smile. "It worked like a charm. Instant relief."

"_See_? I think I know what's good for your body." Alison innocently says in a low tone but comes out everything but innocent.

_Shit._

"But what do I know about anything? Alison says while walking backwards. "I'm just a girl getting junk food." She gives Emily a smug smile before turning around and leaving the aisle towards checkout.

"**Don't fall for that, Em…"**

"**This is the same girl who bullied just about everyone in the whole damn town…"**

**"I know what she **_**did**_**, Aria. I was living there too…"**

**"Well, you must have forgotten all the shit she put people through. Don't let a couple years and a new place make you dismiss her spite. Yeah, she flashes a smile but always remember that 9 times out of 10, it's not genuine..."**

* * *

**I'm starting to realize that every chapter is ending with at least 3,200 words. I hope you don't mind. If you do, don't worry. Some chapters might be long, whereas, some might be short. It's all dealing with pacing and amount of information. Anyways, what did you think! Do you think that Aria and Ezra might be on to something or should Emily just follow her own instincts and trust that everything is different now?**

**Sidenote: Here's one thing I would like for you to do. Remember that whole sing-off performance at the bar? Well, the song they were singing is called, "_Adult Education_" By Hall &amp; Oates. Classic old song. Here's what you should do. Look it up on YouTube and re-read that **_**whole**_** part at the same time the song is playing. I guarantee you it would be more enjoyable, knowing how the song goes. Also, while you're there, if you were confused by the wording of how Emily opened the beer bottles all at once, search "**_**How to open 3 beers at the same time/ Flair Bartending**_**". Every bartender should know who to put on a show, right?**

**Again, thank you guys for the support that you've been giving me for the first two chapters. Every day I am blown away by the responses. Now that classes are ending, I'm definitely going to have more free time to pull out more chapters. I can't promise anything, **_**but**_** I attend to update frequently. :)**

**I wonder what direction Chapter 4 goes in…**

**Until, next time, L****oves!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Cracked Out Barney

**Are my eyes deceiving me?! Another update the next day?!**

**You guessed it!**

**I wrote Chapter 4 before I uploaded Chapter 3 and I decided to go ahead and upload this Chapter because Finals are next week. And you guys **_**already **__**know**_** how Finals cause people to go into overtime. There would be a big possibility that I wouldn't be able to update so I took the option to give you a 2 for 1 deal ;)**

**I also find it hilarious how the reviews for last chapter were talking about a certain aspect of Ali's "behavior" and this chapter just so **_**happens**_** to highlight over that. What a coincidence. :D**

**And now onto Chapter 4…**

CHAPTER #4: A Cracked Out Barney

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

"_You could do it for the money (money, money)._

_But the money makes them all the same."_

A grey voice and sound of drum claps fill the room, slowly getting louder and louder.

"_Everything's sunny (sunny, sunny)._

_But the sunshine fades away."_

A desperate hand comes out of the bedsheets and blindly searches for the phone on the night stand beside the bed."

"_Everything's black… (Everything's black)_

_And white…. (And white)_

_No g-"_

The phone alarm is shut off followed by slight bed movement. The hand brings the phone to the sleeper's face as she looks at the time with squinted eyes.

_10:30am – Wake up!_

The sleeper tosses the phone beside her as she slowly rises up from her sleep. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up in her bed for a few moments, she decides that it's time to start the day and get ready for another day's work.

The sleeping beauty groggily gets out of bed and shuffles towards her bathroom. She turns on the hot water knob, places both her hands underneath to gather some water, bends down, and splashes her face to awaken herself. With her face leaned over the sink, she grabs her small hand towel hanging from the wall besides and pats her face down. Drying her face, she stands up and proceeds to look at herself in the mirror, examining her own face as a whole. She sighs to herself.

"Time to get ready."

…...

"Thank you for shopping with us, come again!" Alison says as she hands a receipt to a paid customer. When the customer leaves, Alison logs out of the computer at the checkout and commences to punch out to begin her lunch break. With everything set, Alison walks back to the break room to eat something she already had prepared. She is greeted by two other coworkers, Miranda and Amy, who are conversing at a table, also eating lunch.

"Hey, Alison," the both greet the blonde at the same time.

"Hey, guys" Alison responds while digging in her bag to pull out a container filled with her leftover Chinese food that she had at the house from last night. She walks over to the microwave and punches in one minute. As soon as it starts, Alison turns around and leans back on the counter.

"Have you guys heard from Stacey? I haven't seen her around recently."

"Stacey got fired," Miranda tells Alison as she takes a bite into her subway meatball sandwich.

"Fired?" Alison asks, completely taken back.

"Mhmm," Miranda sounds as she chews.

"Remember about a week ago when we were all called in because short staff from our sale day?" Amy, a short, preppy blonde, fills in.

"Yeah…" Alison crosses her arms in front of her.

"Well, Stacey called in sick. She had the sore throat, runny nose, watery eyes. I mean, the whole nine. So, they let her off the hook, telling her to rest up. Low and behold, her Facebook told a whole 'nother story." Amy begins to explain. "Remember that bonfire in New Jersey that Rebecca was throwing last week?"

Alison nods her head. She remembers as Rebecca, a former Lush worker, had invited the whole shop to go to her bonfire last Friday night. However, nobody could go to the party because of the last minute work call-ins. While everyone was excited for the bonfire, Alison was indifferent about it. Moving to Philadelphia, Alison didn't have friends the way she did in Rosewood. She only kept around a couple workers from work and one or two from school. The only reason Alison was contemplating going was because she was bugged by Miranda and Amy constantly. When everyone got called in to work, she didn't have the same feelings about missing the party as everyone else did. It was more like an, "Oh well," kind of emotion.

"Anyways, Stacey lied about being sick, just so she could go out to the shore to go to that bonfire. There had tagged photos of her on Facebook."

"But nobody told Kelly because even though that was a shitty move, nobody was _that_ upset to get her in trouble because we _all_ do some things under the belt when nobody's looking." Miranda says as the microwave beeps.

Alison takes out her Chinese filled container, closes the microwave door and pulls up a seat with the two other girls. Even though Kelly, their boss, is pretty cool, she doesn't tolerate anything unprofessional.

"But listen to this," Amy leans in as she lowers her voice just a bit, "Courtney obviously couldn't go either. She and her boyfriend, Aaron, were supposed to go together but Courtney tells him to go without her because she didn't want her being called-in stop him from enjoying the night. She trusts him so she figured he'd hang with the other guys and just enjoy himself."

"Which, I wanna say, I would never do." Miranda adds in quickly.

"Do what?" Alison asks as she shuffles around her rice with her spoon

"Allow my boyfriend to go to a bonfire with a whole bunch of other girls while I'm not there. If you looked at the event invitation, there was _a lot_ of people going. It wasn't gonna be a small bonfire with about 10, 15 people. I'm talking about a full blown, night beach party."

"So, yeah. She tells Aaron to go ahead and go," Amy continues with the story. "So, I'm with Miranda and Jamie taking a quick break and I decide to check out pictures from that party. I'm scrolling through the pictures for a while then I come across Stacey, posing as healthy as she could be. Miranda was like, "_You sly, bitch"._" Amy chuckles at the remembrance.

"Yep," Miranda comments as she bites into her sub.

"Then I see her in another picture sitting next to Aaron and I'm like "_What the hell? That's Courtney's boyfriend._" Like, at the time, I didn't even know he went. So I'm looking at the picture of them and they look like they're talking to each other so I go to another picture. In the other picture, Aaron is posing with Stacey with his hands around her waist while she's all on him and I'm like "_Oh shit"_ and show Miranda and Jamie. Now, hey. It could mean nothing. It could have been just a friendly picture."

"Until you realize there's a video," Miranda chimes in.

"A video?" Alison raises an eyebrow.

"A video!" Amy raises her voice as she lunged forward. She quickly recovers and brings her voice back down to a hushed whisper. "A video. Everyone is dancing to music and drinking and you see in the corner, Aaron and Stacey dancing on each other. A few seconds later, you see them start to kiss but then the camera moves so you miss it."

"But there was no doubt there was interaction between the two." Miranda states.

"So now, we're sitting here like _"should we tell Jamie?". _That's when Miranda decides to do it. Fast forward, Jamie saw it, got Stacey fired, most likely kicked her ass, and she broke up with Aaron. All in one day."

"Must suck to get fired on your day off, huh?" Alison takes a spoonful of rice into her mouth and shakes her head. The other girls laugh as they continue to add in their comments. Years back, Alison would have indulged herself _well_ into this gossip. However, now hearing everyone's stories, all she could do is shake her head. Not really commenting much on her ex-coworkers fate, Alison learned to not involve herself in the limelight. She already has her "Hall of Fame" star in Rosewood.

"So, subject change," Miranda starts off, "Who was the girl at the bar from a few days ago? Is she from your Art school?"

"No. Someone I knew from back home." Ali replies as she takes a swig of water from her water bottle.

"An old friend?"

"Uhmm..Yeah you could say that. We didn't really talk as much but," Ali shrugs her shoulders, "We ran in different circles, I guess."

"I've realized that you _never_ talk about life back where you came from. Rosemary, I think it was?" Amy tries to remember the name of the town Alison came from.

"Rosewood," Alison politely corrects her. "There isn't much to talk about, really. It's a small town where everyone knows everyone's business. It's a fairly posh town so it was constant competition which I wasn't really into. I really just kept to myself most of the time." Alison lies.

Living in a whole new city, Alison did not want to bring her past with her. The last thing she wanted to do is tell her friends who she used to be. Someone that needed to be in the center of attention. Someone who liked to have little minions follow around her as she walked around like a Queen bee. Someone who blinded a girl, got a boy locked up, publicly humiliated others. No, she liked the feeling of starting brand new. Of being seen as who she is now because really that's all that counts.

"Well, you guys definitely looked like y'all were fairly good friends from how I saw it." Miranda slowly brings her last piece of her sandwich before she sneakily adds in, "Looked like you guys were flirting with each other…"

"Wait, what?"

"WAIT. WHO?"

Both Alison and Amy blurt out in confusion. Alison confused on how Miranda would ever draw that conclusion and Amy confused on who Alison was flirting with.

"The girl who worked at the bar at the Rittenhouse we went to for lunch." Miranda states in-between chews.

"_A girl_? We're playing _that_ game?" Amy questions while looking at Alison up and down. "Who is this chick, Ali?" She asks in complete curiosity, raising one eyebrow up and down.

"Ok, no. That definitely wasn't flirting, Miranda." Alison defends herself in this sudden accusation.

"Looked like it to me."

"You weren't even with us to know if flirting was even going on. You were too busy laughing on the guy working there."

"Laughing on who? So you guys go and find hookups without me?" Amy says feeling out of the loop.

"There was no _'hook-up'_. I don't flirt, period. I just have casual conversations. Besides, I don't even like anyone here. And I definitely wasn't flirting that day. It has been three years since I've seen her and it was refreshing. Refreshing to see someone that I didn't hate from back home." Alison defenses as she scoops another spoonful of rice.

"Ok! So _nobody_ is gonna tell me who she is?" Amy asks again as she frantically looks in-between Alison and Miranda.

Miranda crumbles her subway bag as she gets up to throw it away, "Then prior to seeing her, if I _do_ recall, she was the same one that came in the day earlier. Alison, I _read_ body language, Ok? That was more than friendly posture you had going on. Especially how you were making her laugh and resting your hands on her."

"What?!" Amy exclaims trying to follow the story.

"Well, you need to go back to whatever body reading school you cheated from because one, that was an exaggeration you just did. And two, I was just trying to be nice seeing that I almost ran her over before she walked in." Alison gets up to empty out the remains of her container.

"WHAT? You tried to run her over?" Amy exclaims now even more puzzled than before. "Can someone please explain because I'm so fucking confused?"

Alison rinses out her container in the sink before putting it back in her bag, "I'm going back to work. Goodbye, you two nasty step-sisters." She calls out before exiting the break room, leaving Miranda and Amy by themselves in complete silence.

"…Ok, what the _fuck_ just happened and why am I _now_ just hearing about it?" Amy asks as she gets up, feeling left out in such a big secret.

Miranda shrugs as she and Amy walk out the break room, "Why do we have to be the ugly step sisters? I'm at _least_ a solid 7."

…...

Hours pass by as the store fluctuates from busy to practically empty. Alison and Amy, standing behind their registers, are secretly on their phone, trying to beat each other on Trivia Crack before a bell rings at the door, causing them to put their phone away.

Amy says to the new comer, "Hi! Welcome To Lush!"

When Ali looks up, she sees the potential customer walking towards them.

"Hi… I wanted to know what kind of Bath Bombs you guys have. I never had one before so I don't know what to look for." The customer asks the girls.

"Sure! Alison can show you. She knows all about them." Amy directs as she points them both in the direction of the Bombs.

"Sure, follow me." Ali says with a light smirk on her face. Alison moves from behind the register and walks besides the buyer, leading them in the direction.

"_Now_, who's doing the stalking?" Alison mumbles under her breath, making sure she can't be heard. "Because I feel like you're purposely stalking _me_ at this moment."

"I'm just here for the Bath Bombs," Emily coos. "It's not my fault this is the place that has them."

Tempted to say something, Alison remembers the conversation she had during break and decides not to.

"So, what are you looking for?"

"Something pretty." Emily responds trying to find the right words, "I love colors and also maybe with glitter?"

"Well, what colors do you find the prettiest?"

"Purple is nice. Uhmm…Purple, blue, orange, _gold_. Gold would be pretty too."

Alison picks up a multi-colored, purple Bath Bomb. "Well, this one has purple, pink with some blue and orange. Do you like this one?" She hands the Bomb to Emily.

"Yes! This is really nice. What is this called?"

"It's called the '_Phoenix Rising'_. Its royal purple and gold-dusted, with a cinnamon stick in the center. When you throw in this bomb, it sinks to the bottom of the tub and slowly rises up, like a phoenix, fizzing out a spicy apple and cinnamon scent. Perfect for warming up in the tub on little chilly days like today. The spicy scent of cinnamon is also excellent for stimulating tired minds and bodies."

Emily examines the Bath Bomb in total awe of the deep set purple. While examining, she catches, in the corner of her eye, a big golden egg. "What's that?" she points at the attraction.

Alison walks over and grabs the golden Bath Bomb, "This is our '_Golden Egg'. _It's a spectacular mixture of a Bath Bomb and a Luxury Bath Melt to create the Bath Bomb Melt. Its creamy, moisturizing cocoa butter exterior encases a fizzy Bath Bomb center, and the whole egg is dusted in a delicate golden luster. It has a classic honey and toffee fragrance with it that makes it all the better."

Emily grabs the golden bath bomb and holds it to her nose. She nods at the pleasant smell then looks back to Alison. "How are you so knowledgeable on all these products? It's like you have a set description on every one of them in the back of your head."

Alison puts her hands in her back pockets, "If you're going to be selling something to people, you would at least want to know what their getting so when they ask you a question you know how to respond. The worst is to have no idea of a product and having to make up something. When people ask you what drink is the best or how they taste, how do you respond?"

"Well, it's a part of the job to test each beverage for that exact reason. You can't be a bartender if you never drank before." Emily responds, cradling both bath bombs in her hands.

"Exactly. Besides that's how I outsell everyone in the store," Alison whispers, "But don't tell them I said that." Alison gives a light hearted smile. As she looks past Emily, she sees Miranda and Amy talking behind the checkout counter. _Here we go. _

"So, what do you think? Would that be all for you?"

"Yeah. I think I'm gonna try these two out to see how I like them." Emily walks besides Alison who is walking towards checkout.

Miranda leaves before Alison gets there, however, she lets out a knowingly "cough" when she walks by Alison. Alison ignores her as she begins to ring Emily up. "Do you know how to start them up?"

"Just throw them in the water?" Emily responds, uncertainly.

"Basically, yeah. You just fill your bathtub with warm to hot water, drop in the Bath Bomb and lay back to enjoy its lovely color and gorgeous fragrance. Some Bath Bombs contain flower petals and others have secret surprises like the Phoenix Rising one you chose. If you prefer not to have these pieces floating in your tub, wrap the Bath Bomb in a recycled nylon before using it." Alison informs the brunette, "That'll be $18.25."

Emily takes her wallet out from her back pocket and starts to put money together. As she is focused on her wallet, Amy looks at Alison and gives her a big grin before hiding it when Emily looks back up. "Here you go." Emily gives Alison a $20. "What happens if you mix these two together?"

"Actually, with the two you brought, it would be a perfect mix because the Phoenix is a fragrant Bath Bomb while the Golden Egg is a Luxury Bath Melt. Mixing them would definitely make your experience even more memorable." Alison flashes a friendly smile at Emily while handing her back her change. "$1.75 is your change," Alison rips the receipt from the machine, "And here is your receipt. Thank you for shopping with us, come again soon."

Emily smiles at both Alison and Amy and walks out of the store with her new Bath Bombs.

Amy instantly turns to Alison but Alison cuts her off before she has the chance to say something.

"No, Amy."

"_Alison_," Amy says in a husked, teasing voice. "She is _hot_!"

Alison takes hand sanitizer from under the counter and begins to rub her hands. "Amy don't listen to anything Miranda says. She's trying to turn a friendly interaction into something it's clearly not."

"I'm not!" Amy responds back still eyeing the blonde, "I don't have to when I can see things for myself. I could _see_ why you almost ran her over."

"No you can't since the reason why was because I simply wasn't paying attention to the road. So, whatever you're about to say, is already invalid." Alison quickly interjects with a tone that reminded herself of the old her.

Amy puts her hands up in surrendering mode, "Okay. I hear you. But she's _so_ pretty, I want to be her."

"Why?"

"Because she's gorgeous! She could probably have _any_ guy she wanted, looking like that."

Alison mentally laughs as she pulls out her phone and opens Trivia Crack again, "Something like that. Now hurry up and answer the question so we can go to the next round."

…...

An hour and a half passes and Amy and Miranda have already clocked themselves out of work of the day, leaving Alison alone with the rest of the workers. She continues to assist customers and until a peculiar customer walks through the door. Someone wearing a black tee and jeans, with their skin, below the chin, covered in purple/pink stains and golden glitter. Looking like a Teletubbie that went to a rave, the person walks hastily towards the checkout counter where Ali stood.

Alison, recognizing who it is, turns her head to the side while she tries to hold in her laughter with all her might. When she finally has the strength, she slowly mutters out, "H-How can I help y-you, Miss?" still trying not to laugh.

Emily puts her purple stained hand up, dismissing Alison and her struggles, "I would like a refund on the Bath Bombs I received."

"What was wrong with it?" Alison says with her eyes closed trying her hardest not to laugh even harder.

"Well, first of all, I look like a cracked out Barney. When I dropped it in the bath, the water was gorgeous! It had deep purple and gold swirling around along with the glitter. I felt like I was in a potion. But when I got out and drained the tub. My relaxation turned into displeasure _very_ quickly. My tub at home is still stained after two scrub downs and I have this glitter all over my body. Even in places I rather it not be." Emily explains in a calm but irritated voice.

"May I?" Ali gestures to see Emily's hand. Emily holds out her hand and Alison feels around. "Well, at least you're extremely smooth…" She brings Emily's hand to her nose, "And smell like a warm cinnamon apple pie." Alison chuckles causing Emily to withdraw her hand back.

"This isn't funny, Alison. I have work tomorrow. I can't go in looking like BoohBah from PBS Kids!" Emily complains as she crosses her arms in front of her.

"Ok. Relax. For your tub, A little bit of scrubbing bubbles should do the trick. As for your skin, it will wear off within the next washing. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a refund on your Bath Bombs since you already used it. But, because you came all this way looking like PB&amp;J Otter from Playhouse Disney, I'll credit you a discount of 15% off your next purchase. You normally need a coupon for it but I'll just pretend like you had one and you could use mines. How does that sound?" Alison questions as she genuinely feels bad for the brunette, even though she's still laughing inside.

"Fine, that'll work." Emily responds as she runs her stained hand through her hair. "This is really embarrassing."

"I'm so sorry," Alison apologizes as she should have warned Emily of the chance of it staining. "Can I interest you in one of our body lotions? We just got a new ship-"

"No, thank you." Emily interrupts the blonde mid pitch. "I think I had enough of Lush Cosmetics for the day." She says as she looks up at the Lush sign on the wall. "I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye. I'm sorry for your magically stained adventure..." Alison tries to say seriously but ends up snickering before she can finish her sentence.

Emily squints her eyes at the laughing blonde, turns around, and walks towards the exit.

Alison regains her composure as she watches Emily leave. _That definitely was worth today's pay…_

**There was fluff for the day, you fluffy bunnies! **

**If you have ever shopped at Lush and got the Phoenix Rising, there was a huge chance, you've came out looking like a sparkly unicorn threw up on you and your tub. I should know. -.- **

**I decided to switch up and show this Chapter from Alison's point of view so you see in her daily habitat. **

**To respond to one of the Guest's comments, first and foremost, thank you for taking the time out to read my story! I appreciate ALL of my readers. But the reason why I show the main characters interacting so much with others because it is life, ya know? I don't want to just skip to the OTPs without developing the characters out a little more. Like for example, seeing Alison react to that gossiping session shows you just how much Alison has matured over time. **

**We've reached over 1,000 views, guys! Time to pop the bubblay! I know I say it every chapter but I honestly can't thank you guys **_**enough**_**! I'm almost close to say the L-word to y'all… You know that word, "Like" :X**

**I will send out Chapter 5 as soon as possible. Be on the lookout! **


	5. Chapter 5: Final Curtain Call

**Be ready to be a fly on the wall as we travel with Emily to her important meets.**

**Hold on tight because not only will time fly in this chapter, so will emotions. **

CHAPTER #5: Final Curtain Call

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

After days of intense practicing, sore muscles and lots of shampooing, Friday afternoon had finally came and it's time for the last meet before Finals. Originally, the Howard V.S. Drexel meet was supposed to take place at Drexel, however, due to technical problems, they changed the location to Howard days prior. Emily and the whole girl's swimming team are riding in a charter bus while the boy's team follows behind. Taking a two and a half drive from Philadelphia to Washington D.C., many swimmers are either sleeping, listening to music or talking to other members. Emily is sitting by herself in the middle section of the bus, listening to music and in the middle of a group chat with Aria, Hanna, and Spencer, making the time pass by.

[Hanna]: Guys I'm so serious. I'm two days late. What if Mother Nature is trying to tell me I'm pregnant? (1:24pm)

[Spencer]: I'm pretty sure you're not. Everyone's been late before. (1:24pm)

[Aria]: Time to congratulate Caleb! (1:25pm)

[Hanna]: ….What if he's not the father? (1:25pm)

[Spencer]: HANNA WHAT? (1:25pm)

[Aria]: WHO IS? (1:26pm)

[Hanna]: Emily is (1:26pm)

[Emily]: THAT IS NOT MY BABY (1:26pm)

[Hanna]: Em don't deny me and your child how dare you (1:26pm)

[Emily]: I HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED YOU (1:27pm)

[Hanna]: YES YOU DID! Remember that one night… (1:27pm)

[Hanna]: With the chocolate covered strawberries, baby oil and easy cheese… (1:27pm)

[Spencer]: Ok. What the fuck? (1:27pm)

[Aria]: Easy cheese? (1:27pm)

[Emily]: That was ONE night! How dare you put our business out there like that. (1:28pm)

[Hanna]: You told me that you loved me and said I was the best you've ever had. (1:28pm)

[Aria]: Wait. I thought you said I was the best, Em? (1:28pm)

[Hanna]: Then you did that one move you called the "Philadelphia Handshake" that made me pass out (1:28pm)

[Hanna]: WAIT WHAT?! (1:28pm)

[Spencer]: OK. WHAT THE FUCK? (1:29pm)

[Hanna]: YOU'RE SCREWING ARIA TOO? (1:29pm)

[Hanna]: I DESERVE AN EXPLANATION EMILY FIELDS-MARIN! (1:29pm)

[Aria]: YOU MEAN EMILY FIELDS-MONTGOMERY! (1:29pm)

[Emily]: …I am an innocent bystander. I cannot see, I am legally blind. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm innocent. (1:30pm)

[Spencer]: LMAO (1:30pm)

[Aria]: HAHAHAHAHAHA (1:30pm)

[Hana]: LMFAO :"D STOP (1:30pm)

[Spencer]: Perfect timing with that one. How far are you from the school? (1:31pm)

[Emily]: About an hour.

[Aria]: How are you feeling? Are you nervous? (1:31pm)

[Emily]: Kinda. Mostly because these times will determine who does what in finals. (1:32pm)

[Hanna]: Emily we all know you got it. No need to even sweat it! (1:32pm)

[Spencer]: Yeah, you honestly got this. (1:32pm)

[Aria]: I'm not even worry about this because I know you're gonna make it all the way to the championship.

[Hanna]: Exactly. Did you get us tickets? (1:33pm)

[Emily]: I was only allotted 4 tickets. Two automatically goes to my parents and I have to see if anyone has three more extra tickets they don't need for you guys. (1:34pm)

[Spencer]: There is only 3 of us. Who's the extra two for? (1:34pm)

[Emily]: One is for Ezra and I also promised a ticket for someone I know. His name is Jacob. He works at the front desk of my apartment building. (1:34pm)

[Hanna]: Oooh. Is he cute? (1:35pm)

[Emily]: He's ok, I guess. He kinda looks like Godfrey Gao. (1:35pm)

[Aria]: Who is that? (1:35pm)

Emily goes into Google, searches Godfrey and screenshots a picture of him to send to the girls in the group chat.

[Emily]: A Canadian model from Taiwan. (1:37pm)

[Aria]: He kinda looks like Caleb (1:37pm)

[Hanna]: Uhm no. Caleb is a sweltering beast compared to that guy. He's ok though (1:38pm)

[Spencer]: Well do what you can. If you can't get the tickets, I'll pay for one. I'll support you no matter what. (1:39pm)

[Aria]: Same here, Em. (1:39pm)

[Hanna]: Me too but if the tickets are too much I'll watch it from the TV. I mean, I love you but our love has a set price. Lol jkjk (1:40pm)

[Emily]: Lol. I'll do what I can and let you guys know ahead of time. (1:40pm)

[Spencer]: Alright. We should probably give you time to rest. You're gonna need all the energy you can store before that meet. I'll talk to you after you win. (1:41pm)

[Hanna]: Truuuu (1:41pm)

[Aria]: Get some rest! We'll talk to you later! Good luck! (1:41pm)

[Emily]: Ok, Thank you guys. I'll see you guys later. (1:42pm)

[Hanna]: U BETTAH KICK THEIR ASS, FIELDS!

[Emily]: LOL. I'll try! (1:42pm)

Emily exits out of the group chat and opens her music player, looking for a more calming sound that can soothe her nerves on the way to Washington D.C. She scrolls down her music tracks to find a song that would do the trick. _Hmmm. What mixes do I have..?_ She continues to look through her playlists, now for a mix that she thinks will do the trick. _Aha_._ "Sleepless Chillout Mix by Rameses B". _The instant she presses play, dreamy-like sounds slowly fades into her earbuds, surrounding her in peaceful mental environment. She leans her head back against the seat and closes her eyes as the atmospheric transitions causes her to disconnect with reality and float away towards somewhere else more magical.

...

"Bring it in! Bring it in!" Coach Braun claps loudly in the Girls' locker room. The swimmers geared up in their blue and gold dragon swim track suits, sit around a bench the coach is standing in front of. "I want you guys to go out there and try your hardest. Your times will denote if you are going to the Finals. So if there is a time you want to push yourself, _Today. Would. Be. That. Day._ Granted, not everyone is going to make it to the Finals and that's _ok_. The fact that you got _this_ far, worked _this_ hard, and improved yourself over the course of the season shows that you're _already_ a winner. Every single one of you girls are capable of great things, I've seen it!" Coach Braun scans over all the faces of his swimmers, "Now is the time to let everyone out there see it too… Who are we?" He demands.

"Dragons!" The girls yell out in unison.

"WHO?" He yells back

"DRAGONS!" They yell even louder, all in happy spirits.

"Alright." Coach Braun laughs. "Ok, you guys have 4 minutes. Do your self-prep, pray, whatever you guys do after I leave. Ok? 4 minutes." He pats a teammate on the back as he leaves the locker room.

Amanda, one of the seniors and one of the best swimmers at Drexel, stands up, faces her team and waits for the Coach and the other coaches to leave the room.

"Alright, guys." Her New York accent echoes in the locker room as she claps, "This is one of the most important races you'll be in before the Finals and Championship. This might be a first time for some of you guys and merry-go round for others. You guys can do this. I have faith in all'a you. All you gotta do is throw your ass in the cold ass water and swim back and forth a couple times. Nothing that we haven't done at practice, alright?" She leans in towards her teammates "I don't know about y'all but we're the _motherfucking_ dragons. What are they? A fucking _bison_?" Amanda makes a face of disgust, "We set fire to those bitches! Can I get a '_Hell Yeah_'?"

"Hell Yeah!" The team yells out while getting up on their feet, pumping each other up.

"Hell yeah! Fucking right!" Amanda chants.

"Fucking right! ALRIGHT!" Everyone recites the chant/popular song lyrics as they all look to each other in laughter.

"2 MINUTES!" A head pops into the locker room, alerting the girls how much time they have.

"Ok, everybody circle up. Grab a hand, you know the deal." Amanda directs her team.

The swim team members look around as they form a circle, grabbing on to the person on their left and right's hand. Everyone bows their heads in unison.

Amanda starts off the prayer, "Thank you, God for allowing us to get this far in our season. I pray that you give everyone here the strength they need to glide across those waters and have the drive to do the best that they can do. I also pray that you give Coach Braun calmness and that his face doesn't turn as red as a baboon's ass like it did last time."

The team chuckles as another teammate softly says, "You can't say ass in a prayer." Which causes the team to laugh even more.

Amanda continues, "Thank you for everything you have done for us and continue to bless us. In God's name, we pray, Amen."

"Amen," the team says along with Amanda. They all clap as they grab their bags and head out the door to start their warm ups.

"Let's do this!"

...

3 ½ hours later, with everyone out the waters, either drying off or back into their track suits, each team is in their respectable location awaiting the final scores.

"Throughout the 24 events, we now have the results of both the Women's and Men's of Howard and Drexel University. For the Women, Coming in first place with 96 points …" The announcer drags out the suspense as the crowd sits quiet, Emily and her teammates, along with the guys, holding onto each other.

"Drexel University wins over Howard's second place's 77 points!"

The swim team and Drexel supporters erupt in screams of joy and happiness with the swim members jumping up and down. They calm themselves down to hear the fate of their male counterparts.

"For the Men, also coming in first place, Drexel with 115 points over Howard's 69 points! These are the final results of the Howard Vs Drexel Swim meet. Thank you to everyone who was involved and good luck with Finals!"

The Drexel male swimmers exclaim in happiness as they celebrate with the girl swimmers, with the coaches applauding them.

...

With the sun beginning to set behind the swimmers. The girls and guys hug each other one last time before hopping onto their buses to head back to Philadelphia. The girls, still in celebration mode, jump into their seats waiting for the coaches to tell them who qualified for finals. Coach Braun walks into the bus last. When the team sees him, they all yell out in excitement.

"You guys _rocked_ it today! 96 to 77! That's how you bring home numbers!"

The girls all high five each other, Emily excited but nervous as she high fives her teammates.

The bus driver puts the bus in drive as he begins to follow behind the boy's bus back home.

"Let's talk about these damn races!" Coach says as he smacks the score sheets with his hand. He begins to go over individual races as Emily patiently sits and awaits for him to mention her. She already knew the outcome of the race but wants to hear him tell her if she's qualified for Finals or not.

"With the 200 Yard Freestyle, Emily _blew_ _everyone_ out the water in 1st place with a time of 1:50.13! That right there is Finals qualified!"

The bus cheers as teammates high five and pat Emily's back. Hearing that instantly sent waves down her body with her nerves completely gone. She smiles as the team congratulates her. The coach continues with everyone's races until he hits the last race of the meet which is the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay that Emily anchored.

"Now to the last event, the relay. With the final time of 1:44.46…Y'all are going to Finals!"

Emily breathes a sigh of relief as her teammates are shaking each other. One of Emily's relay members, Brianna, slides into the seat with Emily and gives her big squeeze of a hug.

"We did it!" She says as she says she's gripping onto the brunette before she pulls away and looks into her eyes. "We did it!"

"We did!" Emily reciprocates with pure excitement.

"GUESS WHO'S GETTING FUCKED UP TONIGHT?" Someone yells out from the back of the bus.

"Hey hey..." Coach Braun starts off.

"With orange juice, of course…" The voice trails off causing the bus to become filled with laughter

...

The weekend passes by as Monday wrings its ugly face. Emily, leaving her morning classes for the day, she call her job as she drives to practice.

"Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse. This is Jack, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Jack this is Emily." Answers as she connects her phone's Bluetooth with her car's Bluetooth.

"E'Maestro! Ms. Bigshot! What's going on?" Jack excitedly greets Emily.

"I'm on my way to practice. I wanted to check on you guys. Making sure the place isn't in complete disarray since I've been gone."

"Oh yeah. This place is a totally wreck. Ever since you left us for your swimming gig, people have been leaving in droves. The cute bartender isn't here to serve drinks. I mean, I know I'm good looking but apparently grown men don't want to look at me."

Emily laughs at Jack's stupidity.

"But hey! You better kick ass at your meets, man! You know we're gonna have you front and center on the screens those days. The whole place is gonna be rooting for you. Plus I'm gonna really need you to win your next meet," Jack starts to explain "I kinda betted on you."

"You kinda betted?"

"Yeeeeeah. You know me. My mouth never stops."

"How much did you bet?" Emily asks as she pulls into a parking space in front of the swimming building. She picks up her phone and starts texting within her group chat with the other girls.

_[Emily]: CAA Swimming Championship in Richmond, VA. 5050 Ridgedale Parkway, Richmond, VA, 23234. 4 day event. Starting next Wednesday. My races are Friday afternoon. _

"Let's just say I got into it with a friend who so happens to be a bartender elsewhere. I'm so confident you're gonna win that I bet 2 days worth's of tips."

"What?" Emily freezes as she can't believing what she's hearing.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna need you to be pushing bitches haha."

Emily throws her hands up, "You are ridiculous! I can't. I gotta go to practice. I'll talk to you later."

...

After Monday's practice and Tuesday's rest, Wednesday's final meet against Lehigh at home is finally underway. While concessions are being bought, seats are being filled and tensions are rising, the girls are in their locker room for another team pep talk.

"Alright, daughters of bitches." Amanda walks in front of her sitting teammates, "Like Michael Jackson said, _this is the final curtain call._ I was nice our last pep talk but now I'm gonna get _real_."

Some teammates start smirking because everyone knows how Amanda is. She could be your best supporter but she can also chew the calcium off your bones if she feels like you need a reality check.

"This meet will not only make or break us as a team with the score points but it will make or break your asses to see who's going to be participating at the CAA in VA. We worked too hard to fuck up now. I wanna see _numbers_, I wanna see 1st _places_, I wanna see bitches crying because they thought they were gonna win until we stepped in the water. Ok? Where at home." Amanda lowers her voice as she points towards the ground, "This is our fucking house. We're not gonna let some brown mountain hawks take away anything from us. I want A W tonight, girls! I want to see us beat them by 20 points! More if we can." Amanda crosses her arms behinf her as she softens her voice. "This is technically our last meet, guys. Some of us you won't even see again after this year. As we seniors graduate, we pass on the torch to you guys. For you guys to lead the next set of kids walking in here." Amanda shakes her balled up fists, "We got this, you guys!"

"Jennifer," Amanda points to the teammate, "I want to see you throw those arms back in those backstrokes." Amanda mentions as she demonstrates to throw her arms to make it as if she was swimming. "If you can throw your ass back at parties, you can throw your arms back to win that race because you barely won last week."

Amanda points to another teammate, "Caroline, You have power coming off the dive but you have to obtain that momentum and continue out." She says with emotion as she balls her hand into fist. "What you do is burn out halfway. You have to _push_ yourself past your breaking point and keep going. Don't slow down until the race is done."

Amanda points to Emily, "Emily, You hit an impressive 1:50 but we want you to be in the 1:40's, so try to shave it down. Push out more in your returns for more force then you'll easily be in those numbers." Emily nods her head as she accepts Amanda's advice.

Amanda claps as she gestures the team to bring it into a circle. "Circle up, come on!" The team gets into their positions before bowing their heads.

"God. We come to you again as we ask for your guidance, strength, and power of the mindset to get through this final meet today. Most of us are scared and nervous because so much rides on this meet. Lord, I ask that you calm the nerves of those and give us the strength to hold each other up in spirits. We thank you for keeping us healthy and watching over us like you always do. In God's name I pray, Amen."

"Amen! Whooohoo!" Teammates scream out.

"Hey guys!" Another senior swimmer, Laurel, calls out. "I honestly wanna say after all this time, and years I've spent of some of you, you guys are like my family to me."

"Aww!" Some swimmers yell out.

"I'm trying not to get all sensitive and you guys are screaming out 'Aww'. Cut that shit out." Laurel laughs, "But seriously, swimming with you guys definitely is a highlight in my life. I love every single one of you." Laurel says as she glances over every teammate. "Through our cheers and celebrations and our anger and loses, you guys are the best and I want you to know that. Now let's go kick some ass!"

"Yeah!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Let's do this!"

...

Knocking out her first race, Emily gets 1st place again in her 200 Yard Freestyle, coming in at 1:49.37. However, other than Emily's race and a few others, everyone else was falling far behind. Normal races that would be won by Drexel swimmers were being overtaken by Lehigh, causing the dragons to pick up low scores. Coach Braun and the other coaches are becoming upset by the lack of push that's happening to the team.

"What the fuck is going on," Coach Braun whispers in an aggravated tone to the other coaches, "We just came from a fantastic meet with Howard and now we're getting our asses kicked!"

...

In preparation for Event 31, the last event for the Women's meet, Emily and her relay teammates are off to an open corner of the building to start some quick stretches, still in their blue and gold track suits. Seeing that the team has scaled back for some reason definitely had her looking at her relay members, hoping they push to get first place. The last thing she wants is to be responsible for bringing them up to first place when she's in a hard position of playing catch up.

"This is the final call for the Women's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay. Swimmers, please make your way your correct lanes." A female makes the announcement for the last race.

Emily and her teammates grab their bags and walk past the seated, Drexel supportive crowd on their way towards their lane number 3.

"Let's go, Brianna!"

"Show them what we got, Katie!"

"Come on, baby! You got this, Jessica!"

"Whoohoo! Go, Emily!"

When they reach their lane, Emily, along with the others, unzip her jacket and pulls down her pants only to reveal her royal blue one piece swimming attire.

_You got this…_

She goes into her bag and takes out her Drexel dragon royal blue and gold swimming cap and blue googles.

_You've been doing this all season…_

She puts her hair into a low tight bun and proceeds to put her swimming cap over it, muffling all the excess noise as it covers her ears.

_This is when it truly counts…_

She grabs her goggles and stands behind her teammates in the order of swimming - Katie, Brianna, Jessica, Emily - as the announcer starts with the introductions.

While everyone is getting into position, ready to start the race, Emily puts on her goggles, making sure they're tightly secured. At this moment, her breathing and heartbeat is seemingly becoming louder than the cheering of the attendees.

_Beep!_

Katie lunges herself forward as she tries to push herself ahead of the rest of the swimmers.

_You got this, you got this, you got this…_

Time flying by during her thoughts, before Emily even realized, Jessica was next to dive into the waters. Emily goes up to stand on top of the stands, leaning over, waiting for Jessica to reach the other side and return so she can bring this home. _So far, 1__st__ place. I got this_.

That's when Emily made the fatal mistake of doing what a swimmer should never do.

She let her eyes leave the focus of the pool and glanced into the crowd.

That's when she saw a girl sitting in the crowd wearing a white denim jacket with her blonde curls flowing carelessly onto it.

_Alison?_

"EMILY!" A voice yells from behind her.

Emily quickly looks back at the water and sees that Jessica is already nearing the end and Emily should already be mid-air right now.

_Shit!_

She hurriedly winds her arms back as she flies over Jessica, hands first into the water. She wiggles her body underneath the surface until about the halfway mark where she comes up for air and speedily moves her arms from in front of her to the side to behind and repeat while pushing the water to make her excel forward. Coming up fast towards the wall, Emily ducks her head as she rolls into the other direction, using her feet to kick off the wall, launching her as far as she can. Her arms start to feel weak she circles them around her, splashing everywhere.

_Come on. Come on! Just…a little...farther!_

Emily sees the wall approaching and throws her hand out to the top surface in hopes of getting to the end first. Finishing the race, Emily rising to the top, gasping for air as teammates above scream out in success. She raises her goggles from her eyes to her forehead as she idles in her lane waiting for the race results which feels like forever.

"After revision of the race, being a close call…"

"1st place winners for the Women's 200 Yard Freestyle goes to…"

"The Drexel Dragons!"

The crowd and team explodes into a victory scream as Emily lifts herself up onto the titled floor. Being hugged by all types of bodies, Emily looks into the crowd to see if she actually saw Alison or if her eyes were deceiving her. Scanning the crowd, she sees the blonde again, on her feet with her hands cupped over her mouth, cheering something.

_It is Alison._

...

Dried and into her swimmer's suit, Emily is waiting the scores with her teammates just how they were holding onto each other during Howard's meet.

"For the results of the Women's swim meet, with the final score of 162.5…"

A swim member holds tightly onto Emily as it seems like everyone stopped breathing.

"Lehigh University! With Drexel falling behind with the final score of 124.5"

Lehigh's team and supporters erupt in cheers while Drexel hangs their heads in sheer disappointment. Coach Braun throws his hands over his head in complete frustration. The guys still hang onto hope as their results are announced.

"In the Men's meet with a leading score of 152.5, Lehigh University beats Drexel who fell behind with 145.5"

"Fuck!" A male swimmer throws his bag on the ground. "This is bullshit!"

...

The swimmers sit quietly inside their locker room as Coach Braun walks out and hands Amanda the final score sheet. Amanda stands up and examines the paper before she begins her last moment talk with the girls.

"What the fuck is this?" She calmly asks her team as she lifts the paper in the air.

She shakes the paper as the calmness in her voice goes, being replaced by aggravation, "Someone _please_ tell me what the _fuck_ this is!"

Emily gulps because, knowing Amanda and how seriously she takes the well-being of the team, she has seen this introduction before. _We're about to get cursed out in 3…2…1…_

"I ask you guys to beat Lehigh by 20. NOT GET BEAT BY LEHIGH BY FUCKING 40! Amanda roared as her New York accents gets even thicker. She throws the paper down on the ground in disgust "This is _fucking_ embarrassing." She ties her long black hair into a ponytail before she starts the verbal assault.

"You guys are so lucky. _So fucking lucky_ we're still qualified for the championship because those fucking _numbers_, those fucking _times_. Unacceptable!" She yells as she paces back and forth in front of the team.

"Jackie, what the fuck happened out there?!" She demands as she wails her hands, "You have these fucking long legs that weren't doing _shit_! What's the point of having long legs if you can't use them? The only career path you can have with long legs is swimming, modeling and dancing! And Jackie, I've seen you outside these walls and you sure as _fuck_ can't fucking dance!"

A couple of teammates turn their heads as they tried to hold in their laughter from such a blunt insult.

"Modeling? Who knows! But your job is swimming! Learn it!"

"And Lacey!" Amanda points to the blonde, Lacey tenses up as her name is called out. "Did you forget how to swim today? You were last place in your race. _Last place_!" Amanda picks up the paper from the floor and looks at Lacey's time. "Everyone is pulling in .56 and .58 and you come in at a big whopping time of 1:06! _Holy shit_! You could have gotten your ass disqualified from the whole fucking race coming in at time like that! My dead goldfish could have swam faster than you!"

A teammate, Danni, starts to chuckle to herself, finding Amanda's insults funny.

"Bitch, I know you're not laughing, Danni! You wanna laugh? Huh? You wanna hear a fucking funny joke?" She points to Danni who is now straight faced. "I got one for ya! She leans in as she shakes her head, "You're not even _going_ to the CAA! Why don't you chuck that up for shits and giggles."

Amanda changes her sights on a new target.

"And we got Emily here, who looked like she was frozen in time by fucking Elsa!" Emily looks down, knowing that she risked the entire race by not pay attention. "You looked like you were star-struck! As if you saw Channing Tatum dry humping the floor in the crowd! What the hell was going on?" She rhetorically asks.

Amanda closes her eyes and rubs her temples. "Go. Go home, take a shower, wash this fuckery off of you, do meditation, do whatever the fuck you have to do to remind yourself of what you should _not_ do at Championships. We leave next week to VA. You guys better do some soul searching because we're going against seven other colleges." She bends down to pick up her bag and gestures goodbye to the other teammates as the rest of them get ready to head out to the crowd waiting for them.

"…Well that escalated quickly."

...

Emily walks through the lobby of the swimming building, searching to see if Alison hasn't already left. Moments later, she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns around and there the blonde was in the flesh.

"Ali, Hi!" Emily smiles as she adjusts the bag on her shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was off and I heard about this final meet on the radio. I remembered that you swam for this school so I decided to stop by and check out the hype." Alison says she shoves her hands into her pockets.

"Well, this one wasn't one of our best meets for a first impression," Emily grumbles looking down.

"But I heard that you guys are still going to the championship! And you did flawlessly. The way you just glided in that water was amazing. You have talent. I can see why you were such a big deal in Rosewood." Alison smiles, trying to make the brunette feel less as bad.

"Thanks," Emily gives a half smile. "So… Are you going to the Championship meet?" Emily asks as she doesn't know why that even left her mouth.

"Well I'm gonna have to _now_." Alison gives a play nudge. "It's in Richmond, Virginia, right? That's what I heard from some of the people here."

"Yeah. I-I'll text you the address if you want…" Emily treads carefully as she proposes.

"Uhm, sure. You want my number…?" Alison asks as she pulls out her phone from her back pocket.

Emily whips out her phone as well, "Yeah, sure." Alison and Emily exchanges information as she forwards Alison the address to the location.

"I must warn you, it's a pretty lengthy drive from here to Richmond. If you can't make it, it's totally understandable." Emily advises the blonde.

"I'll see what I can do," Alison says as she looks up from reading the address Emily sent. "I'll see you around." Alison waves as she walks away with the depleting crowd.

Emily waves back just as a thought popped into her head.

_Alison in the same area as Aria, Hanna, and Spencer…? Oh…this is gonna interesting._

**If you've ever been in a competitive sport, especially a team sport, you know how emotions fly before a big game. For those who don't know, it gets pretty intense. Fun fact, back in high school, I did Basketball/Track &amp; Field. Both very competitive teams with intense rivalries. In the season's I've played, I can fully attest that the chew out you just witnessed in the story does happen if you have a hot headed coach or really passionate teammates. During Track/Field, (the more intense chew outs) my coach was sooooo pissed that she cursed us all out, causing our star senior members (and myself) to quit the team. I later rejoined a few days later to come back to even more curse outs. **

**Another fun fact, that rant Amanda gave to the team was inspired by a rant one of my teammates gave us after an important meet that we lost, except, Amanda's was a lot nicer.**

**Anyways, Ali came to one of Emily's meets? Surprised? Shout out to one of our Guest reviewers, Nancy, who spoiled my plot before I had a chance to upload it! Lmao still love you, though. **

**You thought this chapter was wild? Ha! Wait until the next one, my dears. This train is really about to start moving...**


	6. Chapter 6: Richmond, VA

**Amazing job we're doing guys! Over 2,000 views from all around the world! I'm so proud of us! :D**

**Shout out to the top 5 countries reading this story!**

**1) United States, of course. **_**Hey, Guys!**_** ;)**

**2) United Kingdom! Cheeky Nandos! ….Ok, please forgive me for saying that. That meme is going around and like a stupid American, I have **_**no idea**_** what it means :/**

**3) The Philippines! **_**Kumusta sa lahat!**_

**4) Brazil! **_**Olá, meus primos distantes!**_** :)**

**5) &amp; Germany! **_**Guten Tag! **_**:)**

**With Canada falling right behind. P.S. to Canada, You guys make some **_**gorgeous people. Bless you all.**_

**Hi, and thank you to everyone else in the world! :))))**

**Anyways!**

**Here we go… In Richmond, Virginia for the CAA Championship. **

CHAPTER #6: Richmond, VA

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

CAA Swimming &amp; Diving Championship's four-day meet begins tomorrow and Drexel University's swim team has been driving for over four hours before they reach the city of Richmond, Virginia. Clocked in about 4:23pm, the bus slowly pulls into the rounded out entrance of the hotel that the both the women and men's swim team will be staying at; A seven story, reddish brown bricked hotel that reads. "Hilton Garden Inn". The bus sounds as it is parks in front with Coach Braun standing up, about to give directions.

"Alright, so this is gonna be our home for the next four days." Coach Braun announces to both the guys and the girls on the bus, "I'm going to be on the opposite side of the hotel with the guys and you girls will have to listen to Coach Yali." He mentions as he points to the pretty, young 23 year old female Turkish assistant coach who Graduated Drexel and too swam for them, who is also standing. "Now, I'm gonna skip the whole _'behave yourself'_ speech because you guys are old enough to know better. As you are here in Richmond, you are representing not only Drexel as a University but you are representing Philadelphia as a city. Girls, you will follow Coach Yali, get your rooms, get settled in and we will meet later on for a team dinner."

Coach Braun begins to slowly walk down the aisle of the bus, "Now here are the rules I like to call, _'you better not do it'_. Rule #1! There will be no such thing as co-ed anything. That means at _NO_ time will there be a boy in your room and guys, no females in yours. The only time you guys will be able to socialize is when the whole team is together." Coach Braun informs the swimmers in a serious tone. "Which brings me to Rule #2. There shall be _NO_ company outside of the team in your room. You guys are here on business trip not a vacation." He turns to make his way up the bus, "Rule #3! There will be curfew and electronic checks. What that means is at a certain time, everyone will be reporting to their rooms. Shortly after, electronic check will follow. That is when all electronics must be turned off for the night. You guys have to get up early so there will be no reason for you to be staying up all night. Those Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts can wait." He turns to face all his swimmers, "Those are my three rules that I ask you not to break. If you do break them, you'll be on the first flight outta here. Understood?"

The team expresses their understanding of Coach Braun's rules as he nods and he bends down to pick up his luggage as everyone starts to do the same. He gives a quick nod at Coach Yali and makes his way down the bus steps. He stops on the second step down and looks back at his teams, in a more softer tone, "Everyone, enjoy yourself. You've made it this far and deserve every ounce of it. Don't be afraid to take it all in. Besides, this was a little pricey so you _better_ take it all in," He smiles and waves at the girls, who expresses their gratitude towards him and makes his way off the bus to lead the boy's to their rooms.

…

Leading the girls to the check in desk, the team walks through a very bright, open lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn. They walk through the path of four lined up, long café brown columns that stretches to the high ceilings of the hotel. Walkers in the lobby slowly observe the large 13 membered group of swimmers as they wonder what they're there for. Coach Yali checks in on behalf of the team and grabs seven room keys. She moves the team slightly off to the side as she talks room arrangements.

"Alright. We have five rooms." She says as she holds up the cards. "Each room has one queen bed and a sofa bed which means we can fit three bodies in a room. I'm not going to assign you roommates because I feel you guys can choose your own." She holds up one specific key in front of the girls, "However, due to a few members who weren't able to join us, we have five rooms instead of four. That means this one key will belong to someone with a room by herself…"

The girls burst into, "Me! Me!" chants as they fight to get the lone room; Emily not participating.

"Ok, Ok." The young coach objects as she raises her hand up for them to stop. "Let's have a lottery. Random drawing to see who gets the room, leaving it to probability." The girls agree, hoping for one of their names to be called.

After ripping half of one of her information sheets, the coach rips the paper into tiny pieces, writing everyone's name on separate pieces. She looks up to one of the swimmers who is wearing a hat and asks to use it as a holder for the names. The swimmer takes her hat off and the coach throws the name into the hat and begins to shake it. The girls look at the hat, with eager eyes, as they patiently wait for a name to be called. Coach Yali puts her hand into the hat, fumbles around and picks up a piece of paper.

"Emily." She says as she smiles at the surprised brunette.

"That's not fair. She didn't even want the room," one of the swimmers whine.

"Well, do you want the lone room, Em or do you want to give it up to someone?" The coach asks.

"I'll take it." Emily smiles. Even though she wasn't fighting for it, she's not stupid enough to give up a chance for her to have her own space.

Some swimmers groan at Emily's decision, prompting the coach to continue on with her directions. "Everyone round up in pairs of three's. I'm also sharing a room so if you don't have a group, you can room with me."

The team quickly divides into groups as Emily stands off to the side. When everyone is fully established in groups, the coach hands one card key to each group and hands a key to Emily. "Alright, so we're all going to be on the same floor. Get settled in and later, if you guys want, we'll head to the closet Publix or Walmart so you guys can pick up a little food for your rooms." Everyone nods their heads as they begin to walk across the lobby into their hall. Everyone starts to disperse into their rooms as Emily walks a little further down the hall into her room.

Emily puts her card in the card reader and opens her room door when the light turned from red to green. Upon opening the door, Emily is received by nice, cool air. The room is accompanied by a large king bed with clean white sheets and four fluffy white pillows in the center of the fair medium sized room. The brown, red tinted headboard is illuminated by the two lamps on either side, on top of the desks besides the bed. In front, off to the left hand corner, of the bed is multi-shelved brown table top that holds a microwave on top, coffee maker with different items in need to make coffee in the middle and a mini fridge below it. Off to the right hand corner of the bed is a medium size brown desk with a 32 inch LCD flat panel TV. A work desk is placed to the side for a possible laptop and computer chair in front. Emily rolls her suitcase towards the bed and walks towards a large double set window being hidden by long brown-red tinted black out curtains. She pulls the curtains part as she is greeted by a beautiful view of the downtown city life. She smiles to herself knowing she scored a big one with this room. Emily closes the curtains and walks towards the door across from the bed that leads to the bathroom. She opens to see a small but nice size bathroom with a granite counter, large mirror and decent size shower. _Oh yeah, I scored nicely._

…

Walking out of her hotel room in a basic attire of a white tee and black jeans, Emily shakes her hair to the side as she makes her way out of the lobby to the front; waiting with the other girls and Coach Yali as the valets bring their rentals to the front.

"Ok, so we rented three SUVs, each one seats seven people. Since our group is bigger than the guy's group, we need two trucks to transport us. I'm gonna drive the first one with the first six and whoever has their license with them can drive the next five."

There isn't a big competition of who drives the second truck like how everyone was fighting for the rooms earlier so Amanda offers her services. "I'll drive the other one."

Coach Yali nods as the two black 2014 Chevrolet Tahoe rentals are parked in the front by the Valets. The coach and six swimmers hop in the first car while Emily, Amanda and four other swimmers hop the second. They strap in and begin to make their way to the team dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, 1.6 miles away.

…

"I want you guys to be well rested tonight because we're starting at 10am." Coach Braun reminds the team as they eat their food that they individually ordered. "We're gonna leave outta here at around 9:15. Everyone who is racing will be geared up whereas the rest of you guys will be in the stands. It's gonna last from 10 to about 3 so the rest of you will have to do something to pass the time." Coach Braun takes a sip of his drink, "Now, we're not in every single race so there will be some downtime. There are seven other college here so don't be afraid to mingle around with other students."

Some teammates look at each other with sly faces, amid the thought of talking to cute guys/girls."

Coach interrupts, "But remember… They're the enemy."

A male swimmer follows up, "You know what they say. Keep your friends close…"

The rest of the team laughs as they finish, "And your enemies closer."

"Exactly."

…

Two days come and go as it is now Friday, the day where Emily is participating in her races. It's 10am and the swimmer is already at the Aquatics center where the Championship is taking place. Her races are begin to start around 12 so she has a lot of time on her hands in the mean-time. She goes into her text conversation with Aria, which is already under way.

[Aria]: Spencer and Toby's plane just got here so now all we're waiting for is Hanna and Caleb's flight to arrive. (10:00am)

[Emily]: Which airport are you guys at? (10:00am)

[Aria]: Richmond international airport. Since you're there, where do you think is best to get a hotel at? By the airport, downtown or closer to the swimming center? (10:02am)

[Emily]: I'd say downtown. That way you're not too far from either locations. (10:02am)

[Aria]: I'm looking at hotels now. (10:03am)

[Aria]: There is one called Omni Richmond. Heard of that one? (10:06am)

[Emily]: Yeah, I think I saw that one passing by. It's a few streets away from my hotel. (10:07am)

[Aria]: Perfect. I'm gonna call to see if they have any rooms. (10:07am)

…

Finally getting her luggage after waiting, she walks towards down the hall to another part of the airport where they have all have the car rental companies: "Alamo Rent A Car", "Thrifty Car Rentals", "Budget Car Rental", and so on. She walks past the others until she gets to the "Hertz" car rental line. There is a bit of a wait, so she takes her place in line.

…..

"Alright," The Hertz worker tips his head as he puts away the paper work. "If you walk straight back there" he turns around to point to the lot behind him, "Your vehicle should be cleaned and ready for you, Ms. DiLaurentis."

Alison smiles at the Hertz employee behind her black shades and makes her way behind him to the parking garage filled with different types of rental cars. She walks to a Valet car runner who is located behind a computer on a tall stand.

"Name?"

"Alison DiLaurentis."

The man reaches inside a shelf full of keys and pulls one out.

"Your vehicle is in space 402, up and ready to go." He hands her the car keys.

"Thank you." Alison takes the keys and walks towards the parking space, looking above to see a number hanging on top of every car on a sign.

After a few moments, Alison walks up to a Champagne Silver Metallic 2015 Chevy Malibu. She checks the number to see if it's correct. _402\. Hmm…Looks nice. _Alison circles around the car to examine it; making sure it doesn't have any dings or scratches that they can pin on her later. After a satisfactory check, she unlocks the driver side car door and gets in. Admiring the interior look and comfort, Alison thinks aloud. "If I'm paying $69 a day for this, this better look good."

With her purse set in the passenger's side and her phone in her hands, she plugs in the address of the hotel she booked prior to arriving into the car's GPS and begins to make her way out of the parking lot garage of the airport.

…

"This is it! The most important race of this year and probably your life." Amanda starts off in her casual clothing as she talks to the team. Only eight of the thirteen girls are swimming today but the non-swimmers decided to listen in because they want to see what Amanda says for a pep talk this time around. Instead of being in a Locker room like they usually are, this time, they're in one of the private rooms of the center.

"Now before I start, I want to try something." Amanda says as she adjusts her shirt. "There is this chant that some teams do before a meet and it often pumps them up because of the interaction. I don't know how much of you guys know of Stone Cold Steve Austin but he made this chant popular. Now what you guys have to do is yell out '_What?!_' after every phrase I say. After a while of doing that, you guys will begin to like it and the adrenaline is gonna start pumping. Besides, the door is closed so don't be afraid to yell. Ready?"

The teammates nod as they get excited for their new chant. Amanda smiles as she stands in the center of the group. She clears her throat.

"What happened last week cannot happen today..."

"What?" The team starts off weakly.

Amanda moves her wrists upward to gesture the team to be louder.

"It's a new week, new location, and new you..."

"What?!" The team responds a bit stronger.

"Your times will not only denote what place you'll be in…"

"WHAT?!" The team much louder, now getting the hang of it.

"But it'll also denote…"

"WHAT?!"

"If you're getting laid or not."

"WHAT?!" The team chants while laughing at the same time.

"Do you wanna get laid?!"

"YES!" The team switches up, while Emily screams out "_What?!"_ making Amanda and the rest of the team laugh out loud. Emily blushes as Amanda takes a second to regain her composure.

"If you wanna get laid…"

"WHAT?!"

"If you want some of those goods…"

"WHAT?!

"In your face…"

"WHAT?!"

"You gotta get first place!"

"WHAT?!

"I SAID!" Amanda grabs a chair, drags it to the middle and stands on it.

"WHAT?!"

"IF YOU WANT GET _FUCKED_"

"WHAT?!"

"REAL GOOD"

"WHAT?!"

"TO THE POINT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT IT IN CLASS"

"WHAT?!"

"AT WORK"

"WHAT?!"

"AT CHURCH"

"WHAT?!"

"AND IN FRONT OF YOUR PARENTS"

"WHAT?!"

"YOU NEED TO WIN FIRST PLACE!"

"WHAT?!"

"CAN I GET A FUCK YEAH?!" Amanda throws her hands in the air.

"FUCK YEAH!" The team riles up.

"WHAT?!"

"FUCK YEAH!" The team screams, especially Emily, whose eyes are closed as she yells it as loud as she can.

…..

"_Wave your hands side to side, put it in the air. (In the air!)_

_Wave your hands side to side, put it in the air. (To side to side!)_

_Clap, clap, clap like you don't care. _

_Smack that, clap, clap, clap like you don't care! (I know you care!)"_

Emily blissfully mouths the lyrics from the Beyoncé song, blasting in her ears as she finishes her stretches before her race begins. With everyone she knows watching, from her parents to co-workers at her job, she needs music that would give her an adrenaline rush. Everyone knows that Emily and Beyoncé work perfectly together for pre-games. As she finishes out the song and her stretches, another teammate taps Emily on the shoulder to tell her it's almost time.

With previous swim meets Emily has been to, when it's time, she walks to her lane, takes off her track suit and gears up. However, this one is a tad different. Instead of walking in front of the crowd to her lane, she has be already geared up, walk out through the exit door and came in through the entrance for a proper "championship" introduction.

"And now introducing our Women's 200 Yard Freestyle Race…"

The large crowd, filling nearly every seat in the building, stands on their feet as a song begins to play out of the surrounding speakers.

"_Some legends are told. Some turn to dust or to gold._

_But you will remember me! Remember me for centuries!_

_And just one mistake…is all it will take. _

_We'll go down in history! Remember me for centuries!" _

The crowd wildly cheers as some sing the lyrics out loud.

"HERE ARE YOUR SWIMMERS FOR THE WOMEN'S 200 YARD FREESTYLE, THE A FINAL. THESE EIGHT ARE COMPETING FOR THE A FINAL HONORS. INTRODUCING, IN LANE ONE, SOPHOMORE FROM JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY IN HARRISONBURG, VIRGINA, DOOOOOOOOOMINIQUE "AMPHIBIAN" MONTOOOYA!"

The supportive crowd loudly cheers for Dominique as she walks from the entrance, waving at the crowd to her correct lane.

The Announcer continues the introductions until it's time for Emily to walk out.

"_And you're a cherry blossom! _

_You're about to bloom! _

_You look so pretty, but you're gone so soon!"_

"IN LANE FOUR, JUNIOR, COMING OUT OF DREXEL UNIVERSITY IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA! "THE QUIET STORM", EMILLLLLLLY FIEEEEEEELDS!"

The crowd and team roars as Emily walks out of the entrance.

"GO EMILY!"

"YAAAAAAAAAS! QUEEN!"

"EMMY! EMMY!"

"I LOVE YOU EMILY FIELDS MARIN! THAT'S MY _BABY_ RIGHT THERE!"

Emily smiles and waves to the crowd, quickly scanning to see who all came.

_Aria &amp; Ezra …_

_Spencer &amp; Toby…_

_Hanna &amp; Caleb. All sitting together on the far right side of the stands…_

_Mom and Dad sitting a few rows to the left below the group…_

Emily makes it to her lane as the announcer calls out the other lastly swimmers for this A final of the race. She continues to scan the crowd as she holds onto the googles hanging around her neck. She doesn't see anyone she recognizes as she slowly makes her way across the crowd.

Until she does.

"_We've been here forever!_

_And here's the frozen proof! _

_I could scream forever!_

_We are the poisoned youth!"_

Standing in center of the crowd, in a white cardigan covering her silky black top, black skinny jeans and white mid-calf boots, Alison adjusts her sunglasses, resting on top of her ponytail. She doesn't see Emily looking at her but Emily is on full blown stare mode. _I don't believe she actually came… _A smile starts to creep on Emily's face just as her eyes wander a bit more…

To another person standing in the crowd.

… _Paige?!_

Alison's POV

"Swimmers on your mark!"

Emily quickly gets into position as she hangs her head.

_Beep!_

The swimmers fly into the waters, hands first and wiggle their bodies like fish to gain momentum. At the halfway mark, all seven swimmers are above water, flaying their arms above them while Emily is still underwater. She pushes herself before she finally comes up for air, two seconds after everyone else. Somehow, that extra push under the water gave her a bit of a lead above everyone.

"Emily Fields, Drexel, Junior in lane four. Mikayla Reynolds, a freshman of Towson University in lane five. They are leading the group right now!" The announcer covers the race.

With their second time around, Emily trails behind Mikayla just a tad bit before being head to head with her.

"Battling Drexel. Drexel now with a head lead! And that's Emily Fields, a Junior dragon. She's at the lead swimming in lane four!"

The crowd starts a chanting competition between Emily and her opponent, Mikayla.

"EM-ILY! EM-ILY!"

"MI-KALYA! MI-KALYA!"

_Come on, Em… _Alison thinks to herself with her hands in prayer style, over her mouth.

On lap three, coming from the opposite wall, Emily and Mikayla are again neck to neck.

"Fields continues to lead! Reynolds of Towson University right with her! Fields and Reynolds!"

"EM-ILY! EM-ILY!"

"MI-KALYA! MI-KALYA!" The chants become even louder than before with the race soon to come to an end.

Emily and Mikayla kick off the wall at the same time as they begin their last lap of the race.

"Fields and Reynolds now separated themselves a little bit! Emily Fields, Junior at Drexel, at the lead about a half a length!"

_Please, please! Keep going, Emily! _Alison now finding herself stomping her feet.

Emily rolls underwater and kicks off the opposite starting wall at the exact same time as Mikayla.

"HERE WE GO!" The announcer picks up his voice. "EMILY FIELDS, MIKLAYA REYNOLDS. FIELDS IN FOUR, REYNOLDS IN FIVE!"

"LET'S GO, MIKALYA!"

"_FUCK_ THAT! EMILY KICK HER ASS!" Someone in the crowd screams out. Alison looks over to the left where she sees another blonde jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs. Alison looks back at Emily who is now leading by a hair. Alison screams out, "COME ON, EMILY!"

"THEY'RE HEAD TO HEAD. FIELDS WITH A SLIGHT ADVANTAGE!"

The crowd stomps so hard at the last seconds, Alison starts to worry if the stands could even withstand them when the winner is called with all the movements everyone is making.

Emily and Mikayla are neck to neck, nearing the end when they both throw out their hand to touch the starting point first.

The crowd erupts, screaming who they think won the race. Alison stays silent, holding her hands below her chin as she waits for the official results.

"In first place… with a time of 1:45:68… The winner of the Women's 200 Yard Freestyle goes to…"

The crowd gets silent as Emily and the other swimmers bob in the waters.

'EMILY FIELDS OF DREXEL UNIVERSITY! WHEN IT'S OFFICIAL, THAT IS A NEW COLONIAL ATHLETICS ASSOCIATE CHAMPIONSHIP MEET AND _ALL-TIME_ RECORD!"

The Drexel supporters and team jump and scream in joy as Emily swims over to hug her competitor. Alison can't help but to clap and join in the cheers as she feels so proud of Emily. _A new all-time record? Holy shit!_

Emily's POV

Emily gets out of the water and is tackled by excited teammates, congratulating her. Emily hugs everyone as she looks out in the crowd. She sees Aria and Ezra waving at her, Spencer and Toby clapping and whistle, and Hanna screaming something at the top of lungs, Caleb looking at her like she's crazy. Emily laughs as she's handed a towel by one of her teammates. She is called up to take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place pictures with the other swimmers in front of the crowd. Everyone takes out their cell phones and started flashing away, calling her name from different directions. Emily holds up her gold medal she smiles at the crowd, unable to actually see faces because she has been blinding by the lights. She hears Hanna yell out something provocative which causes her to burst out in laughter.

When Emily leaves the stands, Coach Yali runs up to her and shake her gently, "You fucking did it!" She commends her. "All time place holder!" The Coach gives Emily a tight hug. Emily gives her a big smile as she can't believe she got such a time. When the Yali leaves Emily, Emily grabs her bag and proceeds to walk towards the room to fix herself when Amanda walks right beside her.

"Guess who's getting laid back home!" She teases as she elbows the brunette.

…..

With the relay race completed, Emily and the rest of her team, come in close at 2nd against Northeastern University. Although it wasn't first place, Emily is still thrilled over her win of her first race. When the Emily walks out the room now suited back up, with the meet ended, she spots Hanna in the lobby of the building, running towards her, Titanic style.

"I've never been so proud of you in my life!" She jumps on Emily. "You were kicking ass out there!"

The rest of the gang walks up to Emily in big smiles with Hanna still hanging on to Emily like a koala bear.

"Uhm… Are you gonna get down?" Spencer asks when she notices that Hanna is still on Emily.

"Nope! I'm staying here for as long as she can support me!" Hanna says she clings her legs around Emily's waist. Emily laughs as she continues to hold the blonde, waddling towards Spencer.

"Ok, I can't hug you with baby Hanna in the way."

Hanna finally climbs off of Emily and adjusts her clothing, "You're such a party pooper, Hastings."

Spencer rolls her eyes at Hanna as she leans in to give Emily a big hug, "Congrats on your win! That was amazing!"

As everyone waits their turn, Emily's parents find themselves in Emily's path.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Emmy!" Emily's dad jogs up to Emily, picking her up. "That was fantastic! You did _astonishing_ out there! We're so proud!" Her dad puts her down and she gives her mom a hug.

"You did so well, Em! I'm so proud of you!"

"We're gonna _party_ tonight!" Hanna dances as she twirls her finger in the air.

Coach Braun, who so happen to walk past Emily, stops to congratulate her. "Look at our big time hotshot!" He pats her on the back. "You were mind-blowing out there! 1:45?! Goodness! Don't worry about coming back with us to the hotel. Spend time with your family and friends, OK?"

"Thank you, Coach." Emily thanks him with a radiant smile. He returns the smile as he looks towards her father.

"Mr. &amp; Mrs. Fields." He goes and shakes hands with them. When the three adults walk to the side to have a conversation, the newly opened up space reveals another one of Emily's fans.

"Emily!" She yells out.

Everyone turns to look to see Paige making her way towards the champion. Emily heart drops to her stomach as she tries to fake her sudden change in emotion. "Paige! Hi!" _I can't believe she's here…_

Paige walks up and gives Emily a tight hug. Emily is reluctant at first but quickly recovers to hug back, making sure this is actually real. _Paige is actually here…_

Paige pulls back to look at Emily eye to eye with a warm smile. "That was _incredible_ what you did out there!" _PAIGE IS IN FRONT OF ME, RIGHT NOW._

Emily, unable to come up with a response, nods her head quickly enough to make her dizzy.

Paige turns to face everyone else while her hand is still around Emily's waist, "Hi, Everybody!" She greets as Emily nonchalantly looks at Paige's hand.

The just as surprised crowd all greet Paige in a friendly manner, giving her hugs, not knowing if Emily invited her or not. They decide not to question just in case she did.

_SHE IS HERE IN RICHMOND AND NOT CALIFORNIA WHAT?_

"Well _today_ is full of surprises!" Hanna awkwardly laughs as she throws out her arms, trying to make light of the random pop-up.

"Emily?" A voice is heard behind the crowd of family and friends.

Everyone turns to see whose voice it belonged to.

At the same time,

Everyone had the same facial expression.

The '_What the hell?!'_ facial expression.

"Alison?" Spencer's eyes widen as her voice jumps a few pitches in completely disbelief of what her eyes are presenting in front of her.

Immediately, Aria turns her head at such a speed and shoots a glare at Emily. If that glare could shoot daggers, Emily would be violently choking on her own blood right now.

**To be continued…**

"**Chapter 7: Richmond, VA Part II…."**


	7. Chapter 7: Richmond, VA Part II

**As AcquiredMadness reads the latest reviews for her story, she leans back in her black computer chair. "Poor little happy souls…." AM starts off in the mocking tone of Ursula from The Little Mermaid, "What they _don't_ know is as a writer, I love fluff and happiness and little cute bonding moments..." She describes.**

**_"BUT..._****I also **_**love**_** angst." AM sits up straight in her chair and looks at the computer screen. "I hope y'all have your seat-belts on extremely tight because, soon, we're about to go through. some. _shit_**_**." **_**She throws down her hand in emphasis. "It might not be now...but it **_**will**_** come."****She scoots her chair closer to the computer, opens up Microsoft word and begins to type. "**_**Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action…"**_

CHAPTER #7: Richmond, VA Part II

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

"Alison?" Spencer's eyes widen as her voice jumps a few pitches in completely disbelief of what her eyes are presenting in front of her.

Immediately, Aria turns her head at such a speed and shoots a glare at Emily. If that glare could shoot daggers, Emily would be violently choking on her own blood right now.

Alison holds onto her purse and slowly makes her way through the crowd who parted themselves like the Red Sea as she walked past. Eyes gawk at her as she continues to look straight at Emily, trying not to make any eye contact with anyone else. When she finally reaches Emily, she applauds her, "You were absolutely phenomenal out there. I've never seen someone move that fast in water." She says with a face that has double emotions. Half of happiness, half of embarrassment.

Emily gives a closed mouth smile as she goes in to hug the blonde. At that split second, she realized Paige is still holding onto her, not intending to let go. Defeated, Emily puts out her hand to Alison for a handshake.

"How did you get here?" Spencer asks with stern voice, causing Toby to hold her hand to calm her down.

Alison turns from the handshake and faces the rest of the crowd. "By plane," she sarcastically remarks as she let her eyes wonder so she doesn't have to look directly at Spencer.

"She means who invited you?" Hanna responds on behalf of Spencer, with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at Alison.

"Emily did."

Everyone shifts their sights from Alison to Emily, who is now beginning to become tense by the arising tension. "I-I met her earlier this month and she came to one of my meets. So I invited her to the c-championship."

Alison now feeling like a freak on display, starts to wring her hands in front of her, nervously.

Caleb heroically steps in to save the day as the lobby is now empty with them standing there, "Uhm, It's starting to get late. I think it's time we should drop you off at the hotel so you can get changed for the dinner tonight." _Thank you, Caleb, for rescuing me. I love you._

"Yeah." Emily mutters to herself. She looks up at Alison,

"Why don't…" _Don't say it._ "Why don't you join us for the celebration dinner, A-Alison," Emily stutters over her words a bit, trying to extend the invitation.

As soon as those words left her mouth, everyone shifts their focus back to Emily. Including Paige who is still beside her. Emily starts feeling uncomfortable with the sudden focal changes every few seconds.

Alison turns to look at Emily, "Thanks…But I think I should turn it in for the day. I just came straight of the flight so-"

"We all came straight off the flight," Hanna remark loudly for Alison to hear, glaring at her, not caring that Emily just shot her a '_what are you doing?_' look.

Alison slowly nods her head, "Yeah, I'm just gonna head back to my room." Alison doesn't look at Emily, "Besides, you should be celebrating with your family and friends."

"You came all this way to support me, you are also included in that circle." Emily responds in a tone to let Alison know that she's there to defend her.

Aria quickly cocks her head to the side and faces Ezra who opens his mouth and shrugs in shoulders in confusion.

Alison shakes her head at the floor, "Thanks but no thank you. I'll see you later," Alison looks up to give Emily a quick glance but hurriedly looks away to see that Paige is not giving her the most welcoming look.

Pam &amp; Wayne, who are oblivious to the current situation, walks back to the group, just missing Alison.

"Ok, everyone, let's go ahead and hop in the car so we can let Em get ready for the dinner." Pam advises the group. Everyone slowly begin to disperse, including Paige who tightly grasps Emily's side as a _'see you later'_ gesture. While the group is making their way towards the door, Aria stays behind to talk to Emily.

"What the hell, Emily?" Aria starts off in a low rushed voice as she walks closer to the swimmer.

"What?" Emily responds annoyed, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"What? You brought Alison here?"

"I didn't bring her anywhere. I invited her and she came."

"You knew we all were coming and you decided to invite her? What? For a show?" Aria begins to rise her voice.

"No. I _invited_ her because she came to my last meet. That was the right thing to do. I didn't even realize until _after_ she left." Emily defends herself to Aria's accusations.

"And then you invite her to our dinner-" Aria makes a disapproving face as she starts off her sentence before Emily cuts her off.

"Aria. She came out here. Just like you, my parents, and everyone else. This wasn't a quick 15 minute drive where everyone and anyone could just pop up, Ok?" Emily voice starts to match her annoyed emotion. "She spent time and money to come and support me so of course I'm going to invite her to the dinner."

"Why?" Aria crosses her arms in front of her, "You were gonna invite her to the dinner, make things _ten times_ more awkward then how things were just right now," she leans in closer to Emily, "Do you think she would of enjoyed that? Do you think _any of us_ would have really _enjoyed_ that?" Aria squints her eyes at Emily trying understand what in going in that brain of hers.

"Well, _I_ certainly didn't enjoy_ this! _It doesn't matter _who _I invite to my damn meet." She leans into Aria, "The way you guys just _thrashed_ her, not giving her a chance to talk, making her feel unwelcomed. Why?! You didn't do that to Paige and I didn't even invite her!" Emily's voice now higher than before as she throws her hand up in defiance. "Alison didn't even do anything to-" Emily instantly shuts her mouth and closes her eyes, regretting even letting that sentence escape her mouth.

"Come again?!" Aria leans in as her eyes widen as wide as they could open. "She didn't even do _anything_ to us?! Are you fucking kidding me, right now, Em?!" Aria baffled at the boldness Emily just displayed. "You must of swallowed too much of that chlorine to even form those words in a sentence!" Alison points her finger behind her towards the door, not leaving eye contact with Emily, "That was no random stranger. That was Alison. The same one who blackmailed me into my parents splitting up! Taunted Hanna's weight for _months upon months_, calling her "_Hefty Hanna_" in front of everyone! Was enemies with Spencer! Basically causing a huge rift with her relationship with Melissa!" Aria spits out, with aggression on her tongue. "Not to mention, she had Toby _locked _up! Made him out to be some criminal that he wasn't! Taunted Paige! Did you forget _that_?" Aria shakes her head at Emily, "How she made her life hell just because she _liked_ you?" Emily sadly looks down at her shoes, forgetting how much pain Alison caused Paige back then.

"She _blinded_ Jenna! Because of her, that girl will never see colors, nature, herself, or her family ever again and you have the fucking _balls_ to tell me that she didn't do anything to anyone?" Aria now in Emily's face. "The entire fucking group was terrorized by that _bitch_ and just because _you_ didn't get any backlash, you want us to skip down the yellow brick road with her, hand in hand?!"

"She's changed, Aria. She's a different person now." Emily tries to defend Alison strongly but is becoming weak. Even though, in the times Emily has seen Alison, she does believe that Alison isn't the same girl from Rosewood. But the fact is, she doesn't entirely know that. "That was over three years ago and she-"

"I don't give a rat's ass if it was three years ago for fucking thirty years ago!" Aria cuts off Emily, unsympathetic to what she has to say to defend Alison. "She ruined people's lives. That'll stay with them forever!"

"Even if she didn't change, she wouldn't spend all that time and money to come out here if she had ill intentions."

"Yes she would!" Aria practically yells, "The grandmother from "Flowers in the Attic" _spent time and money_ buying food for her grandkids! It wasn't until they started _DROPPING DEAD _from the rat poison that she put inside the food, for them to realize that she really didn't care about them!"

"Aria!" Emily begins to protest the over exaggerated comparison.

Aria changes her tone and starts to back away from Emily, "But do what you want," she says while she puts her hands up, "Don't come crying back to _me_ or any of us when she decides to flip that switch on you." Aria hastily turns around with a flip of her hair and walks out the building, leaving Emily by herself. Emily breathes out a huge sigh before she slowly makes her way to the exit.

…

Sitting at a large party table with Paige on her left and her dad on her left, at a Bar &amp; Grill restaurant, Emily tries to be genuinely happy but cannot as she keeps replaying that fight at the center she had with Aria. She looks over at Aria who is smiling and laughing with Ezra. _How can she just go back to normal? Like that fight didn't even happen? _Emily questions herself. She is interrupted by Hanna's announcement.

"Ok, enough with the food and small talk. It's time for the gifts!" Hanna squeals as she reaches by her feet and grabs a medium sized white box wrapped in a red bow and hands it to Emily. Emily unwraps the bow, lifts the lid and moves the gifting paper to see what gift Hanna gave her.

"No you didn't."

"Fleur Du Mal." Hanna imitate, once again, in her French accent.

Emily holds up a red piece of lingerie, one of the three sets Hanna packaged for her. The table fills with assorted responses.

"Ok!" Paige laughs.

"Wooooah." Ezra comments with his eyes wide.

"Ummm…Why and who would you be wearing that for, young lady?" Wayne nearly chokes as he asks in his serious fatherly tone.

Aria notices a note that came with the gift, "Read the note!"

Emily looks at the note laying on top of the gifting paper.

"_For knocked off socks and hard nipples ;)"_

Emily quickly puts down the note, "Yeah, I rather not… Thank you, Han." She smiles at the blonde who has a knowing grin from Emily reading the note.

"Anything for you, my darling!" Hanna puts her hands over her heart.

Paige takes her hand and subtly rubs Emily's leg under the table. Emily, suddenly surprised, looks at Paige who is looking elsewhere, trying to be discrete. _This is so not the place…_

Everyone else gives Emily their gifts they brought for her whether she won or not.

Spencer and Toby brought Emily a Keurig Coffee Maker. "For those days when you really need it. You can never _not _need coffee." Spencer remarks.

Aria and Ezra brought her a rose gold, Michael Kors Baguette-Bezel Watch. "Don't worry about the price of it," Ezra shifted in his seat, "Trust me. Michael Kors isn't as expensive as people think he is."

Caleb brought a Pen Power World Pen Scanner. "So instead of hand typing your notes into your computer, just scan this bad boy and it will translate the information from the pen to the computer. Works in any foreign language." Caleb proudly describes the nifty gift.

Emily's parent's gift to their daughter is a Camera. "We know how much you liked to document everything when you were younger, so your mom and I brought you this Canon T5i camera. That way you can document your life from this point on and show your potential kids in the future." Wayne smiles as she hugs his wife with his arm around her.

Emily gives her mom and dad is big smile as she hugs her dad's side. "Thank you so much!"

Paige whips out her gift inside of a small white box. Opening it, Emily pulls out a beautiful white chained necklace with a blue topaz and diamond teardrop pendant. She gasps at the beauty of it as the table awes. "I-I-I can't accept this. This had to cost you a fortune."

"I got it at Macy's." She smiles at the surprised brunette. "14k White Gold."

"How much was it?" Hanna boldly asks.

"Hanna!" Aria and Spencer both call out. "That's not an appropriate question to ask." Aria tells Hanna.

"I just wanna know!" Hanna innocently responds. The table looks at Paige to see if she is going to answer.

"It was on sale, so I got it for about $380."

Ezra chokes on his water and Wayne clutches his chest as the rest of the table gasps at the price.

"Holy shit!" Hanna accidently says out loud before immediately apologizing to Emily's parents.

"Oh my god, Paige! You should have never paid this much!" Emily says with worry spreading across her face. It isn't that she isn't grateful, because she is, It's just it's been so long that she would never imagine that much money being coughed up on the first day of a reunion.

"If you won't take it, I'll happily have it! Thank you, Paige." Hanna says as she extends her hand towards Emily.

Emily shakes her head, "Of course I'm going to keep it." She says as she put the expensive necklace back into its box. "Thank you, Paige." She leans in to give Paige a hug as Paige kisses her on the cheek. When they break from their embrace, Paige continues to meticulously run her fingers up and down Emily's thigh. Emily sighs to herself as she smiles at everyone at the table.

…

After everyone says their goodbyes to Emily and heads to their hotel rooms for the night, intending to leave in the morning, Paige drives Emily back to her hotel at around 9. Asking Emily for an opportunity to talk, Emily caves in and the operation of trying to sneak Paige into her hotel room commences. Standing causally behind a column in the lobby with Paige, Emily sees a couple of her teammates lingering around in the lobby towards the hallway leading to everyone's rooms. She knows if they see her walk in with Paige, there could be a big possibility that they could snitch. Emily turns to face Paige with a game plan.

"Ok, take this key and walk to room 134. It's a few doors away from the stairs." She whispers as she instructs Paige with the card in her hand.

"Wouldn't they know that's not my room?" Paige asks curiously, matching Emily's whisper.

"They know we're all on the same hall but don't know which room individually belongs to who. For all they know, you're just a random person. Take the key and wait inside the room by the door. I'm going to wait a few minutes and make my way to the room. That's when I'm going to pretend to unlock the door and you open it."

Paige nods and walks away from Emily, walking down the lobby and into the hall, passing the two teammates. They don't seem to notice her with their conversation still going. Two minutes later, Emily bends down to pick up her gifts and proceeds to walk down the lobby. As she casually passes the teammates, they take notice and offer their congratulations. Emily thanks them as she continues to walk her way down the hall.

"Do you need help getting that to your room?" A swimmer points at Emily's gifts.

"Oh no, I got it, thanks." She says as she drops one of the gifts. Both swimmers make their way to help Emily pick up her present.

"Here, I got this," The other swimmer grabs some of Emily's things out of her hands. "Which room is it?"

"Uh, 134." She points as her nerves begin to shake. _Shitshitshit._

All three swimmers walk towards Emily's room as she prays that they won't try to walk inside. She quickly comes up of some kind of code to warn Paige if they do.

As they get to the room door, Emily quickly tries to get them to leave. "I got it from here."

"You sure?"

"Yep. Thank you guys." Emily says quickly.

With a wave, the two swimmers turn around and walk the opposite direction. Fumbling on the door, the door slowly opens as Paige stands behind it, so she won't be seen. Emily grabs the gifts and rushes inside to her dark room, closing the door behind her. She sets the gifts down as she lets out a sigh, leaning over the table. "That was too close."

Paige walks over to Emily and grabs her gift. She takes the necklace out and stands behind the leaning brunette.

"Hold your hair up?"

Emily stands straight as she lifts her hair up, Paige putting the necklace around her neck before hooking it together. Emily touches the front of her necklace before she turns around, face to face with Paige.

"Paige…This-this is beautiful…"

"Don't even mention it," Paige says softly as she reaches to grab both of Emily's hands. "You're beautiful, so it's only right that you have beautiful things." She leans in to plant kisses on Emily's neck.

The feeling of seeing Paige since senior year of high school is giving Emily mixed reactions. From seeing her, sneaking her into her room, the adrenaline rush, it made her want to go back to how things were and melt right into Paige's hands. But the other part of Emily, the confusion, the tears, that part of her was angry.

"Paige…" Emily quietly lets out. Paige continues to kiss along Emily's neck to her jawline and stops at her lips. She guides Emily's arm over her shoulder as she places her fingertips at Emily's waist, playing with her shirt fabric. She slowly leans in to kiss Emily, Emily frozen in place, not kissing back. "Paige." She says in-between the kisses Paige gives her.

"What?" Paige mutters as she continues.

Emily removes her arm from Paige's shoulder and places it on her chest. "Paige, we need to talk."

Paige looks up at Emily who has a serious look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Paige… Where have you been? I haven't seen you in three years."

"I know, I know," Paige whispers as she nuzzles her head into Emily's neck. "I've been so busy with school and work, I haven't been able to see you how I wanted to," Paige's hands move from the corners of Emily's shirt to inside as she slowly climbs her hands up Emily's stomach.

"Paige, stop." Emily gently pushes Paige away from her. "If you came here, ultimately to have sex with me, I'm going to burst your bubble right now."

"Emily…" Paige starts off, confused. "Why are you doing this? You never pushed me away before…"

"Yeah, three years ago. Three years ago would I have wanted this?" She points between herself and Paige, "Yes! I would have pulled you down onto the bed with me as we tried not to make a lot of noise. But _that's_ the thing. That was the feeling I would of had three years ago. Now we're three years later. Three years of horrible timing with texts, rare communication, nothing." Emily crosses her arms as sadness starts to creep into her tone. "You can't just waltz yourself back into my life like you've been gone for a weekend and think that we can just jump start back to where we were."

"Emily, I'm so sorry for the lack of everything," Paige apologizes, "That's why I took this trip all the way out here. Even though I haven't been there before, I wanted to be here now." Paige tries to uncross Emily's arms as she takes a hand into her own. She looks deep into Emily's eyes, "I knew this was going to be one of the biggest moments of your life and I wanted to be there for it."

Emily looks away from Paige, "Don't do that…"

"Do what?"

"_That_. give me that look." Emily says as she still avoids Paige's eyes.

"Em," Paige steps closer, "I'm sorry."

A tear escapes Emily's eye as she shakes her head, "Why did you leave me?" Her voice cracks as she looks down at their intertwined hands. "W-why did you go…and not want to even talk to me?"

"I really wish I did more, baby. It's just with school and-"

"Bullshit." Emily grits as she takes her hand away from Paige's. "Don't bullshit me, Paige." That moment of sadness and rejection is slowly being replaced by anger. "Don't tell me the reason you've kept away from me is because you were '_busy'. _I go to class, swim _and_ go to work until 2am and _still_ talk to my friends. At least twice a week. Because that's what you do when you love and care about someone." She says as she points her finger in Paige's chest. "You _make_ time for them. No matter how busy you are, _you make time for them_."

Paige hangs her head, knowing that three years was a long time to leave someone waiting.

"So, you better come up with a better excuse then school and work because that's not gonna cut it."

Paige stays silent unable to form an answer.

"Paige McCullers. You better answer me." Emily demands as she looks directly at her.

"I don't know, Emily." Paige finally answers. "There were so many times I _wanted_ to talk to you but I couldn't. Like I physically couldn't bring myself to. I just felt so bad for leaving that I…I didn't know what to say…"

"How about a simple '_Hello'_, '_How was your day?_', '_What are you doing?_' Paige, I don't ask for much. I hardly ask for anything at all but you couldn't even just _check_ on me? You would rather leave me in the dark then to just call me?" Emily questions as she tries to understand where Paige is coming from but she's making absolutely no connections.

"I wasn't asking for a full blown explanation why you left … I just needed to hear your voice." Emily looks down again as she feels tears starting to form. "There has been many days where I needed you and you weren't there. I was convinced that...that you didn't love me anymore…" Emily begins to choke on her words as the tears start to fall down her face.

"Emily, never. I would _never _feel that way." Paige reminds the crying brunette as she takes her hand and pulls up her chin. Emily wipes away her tears with the back of her hand.

"Who's Justine?"

"What?" Paige asks, taken back by the question.

"Who's Justine? You know, that girl that seems to be all over your Instagram. You didn't have time for me, your girlfriend or whatever I was to you, the fucking _chick _back home, but you certainly had enough time for her." Emily states as she stands straight, looking at Paige irritably. "You don't have time to text or call _me_ but you have time to post your guys' text conversations." Emily cocks her head to the side, "Was the last one you posted a few days ago supposed to be funny? Because it wasn't."

"She's someone I go to school with. We shared classes together and I became friends with her." Paige testifies, not understanding where this sudden change came from. "She has nothing to do with you. Nothing to do with us, for that matter." Paige crosses her arms, "But if we're going to go down that road, why was Alison here?"

"She has nothing to do with you." Emily mocks Paige.

"Oh, really?"

"Yep." Emily answers dryly, hurt from Paige's _'She has nothing to do with you'_ statement.

"So you just so happened to run into her and become friends."

"Basically."

Paige nods her head in confirmation, "So you guys _are_ friends."

"If that's the term you want to use, knock yourself out with it." Emily nonchalantly responds, making full eye contact with Paige.

"You know what she did to everyone and you're going to _befriend_ her?"

"People change. And I believe she has changed. Yes, what she did in the past was cruel but she grew up and she's matur-You know what? I'm not gonna have this conversation with you. Not with _you_, not _Aria_, not _anyone_." Emily makes her way past Paige on her way to the bathroom. Paige moves quickly in front of her, blocking her way.

"Why are you getting so defensive? If anyone should be getting defensive, it's me." Points at herself, trying to keep her voice down. "She not only tortured your _best friends _but she tortured me as well. If someone did something bad to you, I would _never_ become friends with that person. No matter _how_ far down the line time has passed. Because _that's_ what you do when you love and care about someone." Paige using Emily's line to drive her point home.

Emily looks towards the alarm clock set on the table by her bed. "I'm not supposed to have visitors here." She says in a low tone as she looks back at Paige, "You gotta go."

"Emily…" Paige begins to protest.

"If you don't leave and they knock at that door, they're gonna send me on the first flight out of here."

"It's not like you have any more races to do."

Emily squints at Paige, making a face of disbelief. "You _want_ me to get kicked out? Just how you kicked me out of your life, you want me to go through that embarrassment?"

"No, Em, I-"

"Go, Paige." Emily looks towards the direction of the door.

Paige looks at Emily in sadness before making her way towards the door. She puts a hand on the door handle before turning around, "I hope you enjoy your gift. Wear it, don't wear it, sell it, do what the fuck you want with it…" She trails off as she proceeds to leave Emily's room.

When the door closes, Emily's tears instantly start streaming down her face as she plops herself on top of the bed, silently crying to herself. _I guess that was the closure I needed…_

…

That next morning, instead of heading out with the team, she wanted to say her last goodbyes to her family and friends. Everyone collects around the front of Emily's hotel to say their final goodbyes. Everyone but Paige. Even though she knew there was a possibility that Paige wasn't gonna show, a tiny piece of her was waiting for her to pull up. To say goodbye, give her a hug and a kiss but she never did because she never showed. Two by two, as everyone headed to the airport, Emily sat in the lobby of her hotel and checked her phone. _10:45am._ She opens a text conversation and begins texting away.

[Emily]: _"Can you please come meet me at the front of my hotel? I need to see you before you go..." _(10:45pm)

…

As the wind starts to pick up, Emily stand outside with her hands in her hoodie pockets, waiting.

A car pulls up to the front of the hotel as Emily re-positions herself.

The driver gets out and slowly approaches Emily.

"Hi…" Emily starts out.

"Hi…" Alison responds back, not having much of anything to say.

"Look, I am so sorry for what happened yesterday. You didn't deserve that."

"Yes I did." Alison looks down at the ground. "I deserve all of that and more. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to come. I should have known that I was going to run into someone from Rosewood…"

"But still, they shouldn't have been blatantly rude to you like that. They shouldn't care who I invite to my competitions."

"But they were right. I had no reasoning being there…" Alison avoids Emily's eye contact.

Emily reaches out to touch Alison's arm. "Yes you did! You came to support me. And I am _very_ thankful of that. You came for me and that's all that matters." Emily says in a soothing tone.

Alison looks at the hand Emily placed on her arm as she breathes in and out. "You know, towards the end of senior year, I had to find myself out of there. Whether it was to another city, another state, or even another country; Things just got too heavy. Karma definitely made it her mission to make me feel how I made others feel and I doubt she's done." Alison looks past Emily as she starts to fidget with her fingers. "My mother dies, Jason becomes a drunk, can't stand to hear my name yet alone see my face. And my father…He doesn't know what to do with me. He sends me a check every month because he feels like he should but he has no idea how to handle me." Alison shakes her head, "I don't deserve anything nice. From anyone. I took that for granted and this is what I get."

"Alison. I see you, OK?" Emily steps closer to Alison as she holds both her arms, "I see you for who you are now. I know that you've changed. I know that you aren't the same Alison from Rosewood. I _see_ that." Emily reassures her.

"Tomorrow we head back to Philly. You &amp; I are going to celebrate since we didn't get the chance to last night. Tomorrow night, we're gonna do something. I dunno yet but I'll think of something. OK?" She looks into Alison's sad blue eyes, trying to convince her.

Alison nods her head looking down. "I should go ahead and make my way back to the airport before they charge me another day for this car." Alison looks back up at Emily.

"Yeah…yeah. You might want to do that," She gives the blonde a light smile.

Alison nods again, "Nice necklace, by the way."

"…Thanks" Emily sluggishly responds as she shoves her hands back inside of her pockets.

Alison begins to make her way back to her rental. Emily waves as Alison gets back inside the driver's side and puts the car in drive. She looks at Emily one last time then slowly drives out of the front parking of the hotel until she's out of sight.

"Tomorrow night…"

**Good ol' Emily. Able to see the good in everyone. How would you have handled Aria and Paige attacking Alison if you were Emily? I believed out of all the girls, Aria would be the one to have something to say about Alison. After all, in the show, she's did just that with that rape whistle when Alison tried to talk to her and when Hanna tried to talk to her about Zach, Aria's mom's creep ex-fiancé. Aria is always the first one to point fingers. Why? ***_**In Spencer's Voice**_*** "Because she's freaking A!" But that's for another time…**

**One thing that makes it hard about updating these chapters is that I already have them written out. So whenever I update a chapter, I already have one or two of the following chapters done. The problem is _timing. _"When should I upload them?" Once a week? No, I'm way too impatient. Every other day? No, that's too fast. Once every three days? Yo no sé! IDK! **

**Alison gets a rude welcoming, Paige comes out of the blue to win back Emily's heart...I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow night…**


	8. Chapter 8: Tomorrow Night

**I love the obsessions over this story. Re-reading it multiple times, not being able to put it down, catching feels, actually taking the time to discuss what you felt over certain parts, fangirling, screaming at me to update it faster. I LOVE IT. ;)**

**But…**

**Nah, I'll let you read on…**

CHAPTER #8: "Tomorrow Night"

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed. (xxxxx) is a distortion of time.

Inside her loft-styled apartment, on the second floor, Emily is laying on her stomach in her bed, playing with her new camera as her phone buzzes a call notification beside her. She glances over her to see who's calling her before she picks it up.

"Hey Jack!" Emily answers the phone, still tinkering with her camera.

"My E'Michael Phelps! What is going on, Champ?!" Jack yells into his side of the phone. "Everyone over here saw your race, man! Fucking all time record?! You didn't tell me you were a part fish!"

Emily giggles, listening to Jack rant on. "I worked extra hard so you wouldn't lose your two days' worth of tips," Emily teases.

"I should of betted a weeks' worth! I knew you weren't gonna disappoint! I'm so fucking proud of you, Em." Jack congratulates Emily's achievement. Before Emily could say anything, Jack starts up again, "The reason I called you, other than kissing your ass, is to tell you about what's going on tonight. We're throwing a party! The whole place is celebrating your achievement. Knocked down some prices, threw in some specials, adding a variety of different alcohol to the list, like that hard shit; the whole city is gonna be in tonight. You already know you're coming."

Emily pauses her fiddling and puts the camera to the side as she props herself onto her elbows, "Wait what? You guys are throwing a party for me and decide to tell me _now_? When does it start?"

"Starting at 8, mi lady! Besides, you have enough time to get ready! It's not like you're working or anything." Jack explains, "Don't even worry about paying anything. Your purchases are on the house. Everyone else's? Hell no. But you're good! You might even get people to pay for you as a congrats. C'mon!"

Emily sits up as she rubs her temples, "I can't, Jack..."

"What do you mean _you can't_? This is for you! How are we gonna throw a party without the party throwee it's for?" Jack question his coworker's odd ambition not to go to the party.

"It's just that I promised to be with someone tonight for a celebration."

"Shit! Then bring them along! Fucking kill two stones with one bird!"

"Jack I-"

"Listen. I'm not asking you the stay the whole night. Just come out and have a good time. Bring whoever you're supposed to be with and we'll cover them too." Jack calmly says as he tries to sweeten the deal.

"Jack..."

"What was that?" He yells out away from the phone, "You need help scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush? Alright!" He returns back to the call, "Sorry. The floor needs some loving. I gotta go."

"Jack!"

"_Sorry_! Can't hear you! You're coming to the party no matter what, Bye!"

"Wait!" Emily calls out as she leans over the edge of her bed.

"_Sorrygottagobye_!" Jack quickly says before he hangs up on Emily.

"Ughhhh." Emily groans. She knew she wanted to do go through with her plan of hanging out with Alison but now she's tied into an unbreakable bond with this party. Emily throws herself back onto the bed as she looks up at her white ceilings. _What to do. What to do..._ She ponders to herself. She looks over at the phone in her hand for a moment before she dials Alison's number. _Looks like we're doing a detour._

...

Looking at herself in her full body mirror, Emily glances over her choice of outfit. Starting from the top, her dark hair is pulled back in pumped-up height ponytail accompanied by stud earrings for a voluminous look. Light coverage of makeup with just enough smoke and a touch of a feline flick of the eyes to match her dark attire. A black reversible denim jacket covering a greyish-blue shirt. Glancing down her legs, she sports a pair of black rayon fabric skinny jeans with cute blue Nike ankle socks. _Yes ma'am._ She nods at her choice of outfit as she checks herself out. She turns around to look at her phone, playing a soft tune, charging on her bed. _8:15pm__. W__ell, nobody goes to a party on time._ She tells herself. She walks towards her dresser behind her where she looks at her options of perfumes she has lined up. After pondering over which scent to go with, she picks up a black bottle that reads "_Tom Ford Black Orchid_" aka her little black box. Paying nearly $120 for this fragrance, Emily only wears it for special occasions. Whenever she does wear it, with its warm and sexy aroma, she's always gets showered by compliments.

"Special party calls for an especially scented Emily" she sings to herself as she sprays the base of her throat. Because of its strong scent, she sprays only once, knowing it'll last her the night. Looking at herself over one last time in the mirror, Emily prepares to head out the door. She grabs a pack of gum and her wallet and shoves in it her back pocket. On top of the dresser, she opens her little box from Ezra and Aria and puts on her new Rose Gold Watch.

"Why not a quick little self-portrait before I go?" Emily walks over towards her night stand where the camera sat and turned it on. She stands in front of the mirror and snaps a few pictures. She sits on the bed and takes a couple more from different angles to have a good range of pictures to choose later. _That should be good for now. _Emily crawls to the top of her bed and leans over to put the powered-off camera back on the night stand. As she makes her way back, she catches her a glimpse of herself. The white and blue necklace dangling from her neck. Emily stands up straight with her phone in her hand as she looks at herself in the mirror, touching the necklace. _It's a gorgeous necklace…it matches my outfit…but still…_Emily battles within herself if she should continue to wear the gifted necklace. After a moment of decision making, Emily walks back over to her dresser as she unhooks the necklace. She places it carefully into the box belonging to the watch. _I can't. _She slowly closes the box and breathes a slow breathes. She replaces the necklace with a cross necklace, still needing it to complete her outfit. She leans over and turns off the light switch, turns to her right and jogs down the carpeted stairs. _Can't get to the place late. _She walks past her spacious, lightly furnished living room and flips off the light switch on her way down the hallway towards the door. She snatches her keys hanging on the wall and bends down to put on her Black Leather Grey Converses. _I hope Alison is not already there waiting for me._

…Concurrently…

"C'mon, Ali, we're gonna be late!" Amy rocks back and forth on the edge of Alison's bed inside her studio apartment.

Alison stands in front of her bathroom mirror as she makes last minute checks in the mirror, "You should be happy you're coming along with all this rushing you're doing me right now." She untwists her _"Victoria's Secret Heavenly Angel Mist"_ fragrance and sprays it on herself.

"Hey, I'm just there to enjoy a little late night get together. Besides! You can Miranda went over there last time so now It's my turn to ride with Queen Alison." Amy responds as she scrolls through her phone.

Alison puts on small silver hoop earrings and she does one final look in the mirror, adjusting her wrist accessories before stepping out into Amy's vision.

With her lightly curled hair blonde hair falling onto her burgundy and white stripped buttoned cardigan sweater, she rocks the look with a pair of dark blue jeans and dark brown moccasins boots. 'How do I look?"

"You look adorable!" Amy gushes with her hands to her face.

"Eck. Don't do that." Alison says as walks to her black glass table in the living room portion of the studio apartment, across her bed to pick up her keys, wallet and phone.

"You're not going to bring your purse?" Am questions as she stands up

"Not in a busy place like that. All you need is this." She says as she waves her wallet. "Let's go, everyone is probably there already."

…

Walking inside the Sports Bar a little after half past 8, the lights are flickering blue, the music is bumping and the people are in numbers. Normally, when they have events as such, they open up the second deck below which is an exact replica of the first floor. This way, they can take in more people. Emily decides to walk upstairs to the main floor since she knows Jack will be up there. Emily politely makes her way through the massive crowd towards the bar where she sees Jack and another bartender serving up drinks.

"Jack!" Emily tries to yell over the commotion. She cups her hands for the second attempt "JACK!"

Jack shifts his glance over in the direction of his name being called and sees Emily waving him down. "HEY!" he points to Emily. He moves a few steps to the end of the bar where he has Mac laptop placed, DJ'ing the music. He pauses the music to get everyone's attention.

"Heeey! Ladies and Gents! I just wanted to make a quick announcement that our champion, all time record breaker, hot, _badass_ bartender has made her entrance to the party! Everyone one give it up to Emily Fields!"

The large crowd claps, whistles and cheers as they turn to face the bushing brunette who gives everyone a wave.

"She went against seven different colleges and dicked on them all! Throughout the night, be sure to show her some love!" Jack presses play on his playlist with the bass of electronic music filling the entire place. Being greeted and congratulated by patrons of bar, Valerie taps Emily's elbow..

"Val! Hey!" Emily hugs her working coworker.

"You kicked major ass out there! I'm proud of you!" Valerie yells a little louder than normal seeing they are right by the source of music.

"Thanks!"

"We saved the booth in the back for you and your party! Relax and enjoy yourself!" Valerie tells Emily before she heads off to attend the customers. Emily scans the crowd to see if she notices Alison. When she doesn't see her, she stands by the small balcony by the stairs to hopefully catch her walk through the door.

…..

"Damn, it sounds like a club in there!" Amy remarks as she and Alison walk the sidewalk to approach the Sports Bar. Opening the door, the two are on the platform between going upstairs or going downstairs; both filled with a large crowd.

"Which way should we go?" Amy leans into Alison's ear. Alison looks up to scan the crowd when she spots Emily waiting at the top. Emily happily waves at Alison as they make their way up the stairs.

"Hey, Ali! Glad you made it!" Emily yells over the music when the two blondes approach her.

"This is Amy! You've met her earlier at my job!" Alison points to her friend.

"Hi!" Amy flashes a wide smile, "Congrats on the win! I watched from home, you did amazing!" Emily smiles back at Amy and leans in for a hug.

"You smell good!" Amy comments as they separate, hands still lingering together.

Emily laughs _Secret weapon, alright. _"Thank you! You look nice, I like your outfit!" Emily shifts her direction on Alison who is standing off to the side, "Ali!" Emily extends her arms towards her with a warm smile. Alison smiles as she walks into her arms and share a tight hug, mostly from Emily. Still in the hug, Emily talks into Alison's ear, "They have a booth in the back for us to sit."

As they pull away, bodies still fairly close, Alison nods her head. She pulls Emily in again, "You _do_ smell good. What is that?"

"I could say the same about _you_. I'm wearing Tom Ford."

Alison pulls apart from their closeness, "Trying to smell like a million bucks, Jay Z?" Alison sarcastically remarks.

"I'm trying!" Emily laughs. She takes Alison's hand and leads her Amy to their table in the back. With their location, they won't have to worry about screaming over the music. Finally reaching their table, Amy and Alison sit on one side of the booth as Emily takes the other side.

"Ah, So much better. I swore I was going to go deaf over there. Why is the music so loud?" Amy asks as she fixes herself.

"It's all a selling tactic," Emily begins to explain, "In the beginning of the party, the energy has to be high when you first arrive. It's programmed to make you "drink and have fun". People tend to buy more drinks the louder you play music up to a certain decibel level. Don't worry, it's going to die down by first seating."

As soon as Emily stopped talking, A Cavanaugh employee arrives to wait their table, unaware who is seated there.

"Hey, hey, hey! My name is Ryan and I'm going to be your server for tonight." He mentions as he lays down three menus.

"Ryan!" Emily exclaims. This is the first time she has seen him after his apparent surgery.

"Emily!" Emily stands up to hug him, "Congrats on your win! You were amazing out there, man!"

"Thanks," She smiles at him. "These are my friends, "Alison and Amy." She introduces the two to her coworker.

"Nice to meet you two, _gorgeous_ ladies," He compliments as he shakes their hands, both nodding and smile at him.

"Alright, what can I start you ladies off with to drink," Ryan asks as he takes his pen and pad out.

Emily looks to the other girls, "What are you guys in the mood for?"

The two both look at their menus, scanning the drinks section.

"Wow, these are all pretty expensive…"Alison observes as she looks at the price of the alcohol.

"Don't even look at the price. It's on the house." Ryan mentions with a wave of his hand, dismissing the menu.

Alison and Amy both look up at Ryan, surprised.

"On the house?"

"Really?"

"Yeah," Ryan laughs. "To celebrate Emily, we're going to pay for her things and you guys' things too since you're with her."

Amy quickly looks back at her menu while Alison looks at Emily, Emily smirking back.

"Get whatever you want, Ali." Emily proposed as she continues their eye contact.

"Well…" She puts the menu down and folds her hands, "You're the bartender, Em. You would know what would be good to start us off." Alison challenges the brunette.

A grin starts to spread across Emily' face before she looks up to the waiting server. "Let's start with something light, Ryan. What kind of Martinis are we doing tonight?"

"We got a good few: Dry Manhattan, Apple Martini, Key Lime Martini, Sour Watermelon Martini, and Gin Martini." Ryan recites as he tries to remember what they have to serve.

"Apple Martini sounds good." Alison looks to Amy who agrees.

"Well then. Three Apples, please." Emily restates to Ryan.

"Three Apple Martinis coming up." Ryan smiles at the girls before he leaves.

"So…What do you guys think?" Emily begins to ask as she adjusts her watch, "You want to start off slow than hard or just go right for it?" She slyly grins at the two blondes in front of her.

Amy looks to Alison for an answer, "What do you think, A?"

"Well, we're not paying for it so we might as well use it to our advantage, right?" She turns to look at Emily and shrugs, "Fuck it"

Emily pouts and nods her head, "So, one has spoken. What say you, Amy?"

"Fuck it." Amy laughs, "But-but let's not fuck it too hard because we gotta be able to get home after this."

"Oh, don't worry." Emily reassures as she leans back into the cushion of the booth. "Everything is all under control…"

…

"Let's order something else!" Alison declares as the tiny buzz starts to form.

"I dunnooo…" Emily sings. "I'm not sure little Miss Princess here can have another one." Emily nods in the direction of Amy.

Amy dismisses Emily with a wave of a hand, "I'm fine. Don't worry about my intake, you need to worry about yours, Ms. Fields. It seems like I'm going to be the designated driver tonight."

"Have you seen where I work?" Emily scoffs as she throws out her arms. "Don't worry about _me_ because, when Ryan comes back, we're going to do the big boys." She smiles at the two, "Shots."

"Oh no." Alison begins to start, "That's an express to hell." She runs her hands through her hair as Amy agrees with her, "Once the shots come, you're automatically going to be fucked up."

"We're only doing what you said to do, right Ali?" Emily glints at Alison as she leans closer to the table. "_Fuck it_, I believe it was?" She cocks her head to the side as a taunting gesture causing Alison to lean back.

"Hey, guys. How are we doing over here?" Ryan stops by the slightly intoxicated table.

"Yeah, we wanna make another order." Emily looks up at Ryan.

"Sure! What do you guys feel like right now?"

"If I could get-No if we _all_ could get an A.M.F."

"Three A.M.F's..." Ryan writes on his notepad. He looks back at the table, "Anything else?"

"What's A.M.F.?" Amy raises her eyebrow at the acronym.

"Adios, Mother Fucker," Ryan answers as Emily laughs to herself. "It's one of our shots."

"Oh, hell no. Don-don't bring that." Amy advises the server.

"Nono, bring it! This is my party, riiight? Exactly." Emily answers herself. "Bring me the mother fuckers, Ryan."

Ryan chuckles, "Alright, They're on their way." He leaves the three alone once again.

"I don't think you can handle that, Emily." Amy begins to become concerned as she's starting to notice the prized swimmer might be getting drunker quicker than Alison and herself.

…..

"Yeah, I think we're going take a round of this one," Amy points to the sign, "Orgasm #2?" She laughs as she states the name but ends it in a higher pitch that would make it sound like a question, "You've had that one, have you, Em? Alison?" Amy asks the other two.

Emily breathes in, "Not in a while…"

"Mhmm…" Alison hums to herself which Emily picks up.

"3 Orgasms," Ryan closes his notepad, "I'll be right back with them."

When Ryan leaves, Amy notices her phone is buzzing. "I'll be right back," She tells the girls as she gets up, "I gotta take this call". Alison gets out of the booth so Amy can make her way out. When Amy leaves, Emily takes the opportunity to _'talk' _to Alison.

"How'ryou doing tonight, Alison?" Emily props her elbows on the table, holding her head in her hands.

"_I_ should being asking you that." Alison glances at the flushed face, smiling brunette.

"I see you." Emily tells her, "I hear you _and_ I see you." She wags a finger at Alison.

"I never knew you had this side to you, Fields." Alison observes as she sways a little herself, the alcohol is starting to hit her. "This…This" She tries to find the words, "This lively side."

Emily chuckles, "I'm not as innocent as you think."

"I never said you were innocent."

"But I bet you thought it." Emily expresses back. "Noooo. My innocence has been gone _years _ago." She states as she looks down to dust off her jeans. "Besides, I _probably_ know what you're thinking right now."

"And what is that," Alison crosses her arms in front of her.

"Thaaaaaat you're surprised. Surprised of us meeting and surprised of everything. But most importantly, surprised that ever since freshman year, I've…" Emily trails off something in the distance capturing her attention.

"Freshman year, what?" Alison curiously asks.

"Huh?" Emily shifts her glazed over eyes back to the blonde.

"Ever since freshman year, you've what?" Alison encourages her to finish her sentence.

Emily gives Alison a knowingly smile before looking away, "Oh, nothing…"

"Finish what you were gonna say, Em." Alison pushes on, beyond curious to know what she's talking about.

"If you wanna know," Emily leans into the table, "You're gonna have to work for it."

…..

Hitting a little past one in the morning, with many drinks later, things start to change into a different perspective.

EMILY'S DISORDERED POV

I'm leaning against the side of the booth, trying to push myself up to stand straight. _Ooooh. Fuck, Emily. _I laugh to myself. The music from the bar is still playing but instead it's all over me. Surrounding me like a blanket; But I don't want to be here anymore. "Alright, guys. I'm heading gonna head home." I yell out to no one in particular. I shove my hand into my back pocket to take out my wallet. _Lets seeee…what do I got. _I pull out a twenty dollar bill. _Yeah. Ryan. Ryan is a good guy. Twenty is good._ Even though the walls keep changing speed around me, I try to maintain my balance as I begin to walk towards the front, in means of finding Ryan. _I have to give him his tip in his hand so nobody steals it._ I wait by another table, leaning on the back of the chair for support from the speeding walls.

A guy walks past me, eyeing me like a hawk before he decides to come and talk to me.

"Hey, baby." He coos as he touches my arm to get my attention.

"Nooooo…" I let out in a low tone that he probably didn't even hear as I continue to look opposite of his direction.

"Just saying. Straight up, you're looking so sexy." He compliments as he leans against the back of a chair as well, still trying to get my attention.

"Pah!" I sway my ponytail back and forth as I laugh, finally looking in his direction, "That's thee _only_ thing fuckin' _straight up_ about me."

Simultaneously, Ryan passes by me and the guy trying too hard, heading to the kitchen. "Ry-an!" I call out to him as I slowly sashay over to him.

"Yeah, Em?"

"Heeere's your tip!" I pat him on the chest as I put the twenty in his shirt pocket. "From me. To you."

Ryan looks at the folded tip and is stunned at the bill, "A twenty, Em? A-Are you sure?"

"Yep!" I try to say as soberly and cheerily as I can. "Hey, hey." I pull him closer to me, "I…I-I'm sorry about your penis."

He widens his eyes in horror at my condolences, "Who told you?"

"_Who told me_?" I point to myself, "The whole bar knows, Ryry. I-" I drag out the letter, "I was the _last_ person to know 'bout it so don't worry. Shhh." I put my index finger unevenly to the center of my lips. "We're still good." I smile at him. _Shit. Are my eyes getting heavy or what?_

xxxxx

"She's gonna take me home, Jack. Don't worry about me." I lean against a bar stool as I swivel around like a little kid.

"Come on, Emily." A female voice calls on me as she pulls my arm.

"_Byeeeee_, Jack Dawson!" I wave to my coworker as I stumble trying to catch up to the blonde.

"Bye!" Jack waves back at me and her, "You two kids be _safe_ now!" He winks.

xxxxx

"Where are your keys, Em?" She asks me as we stand outside the doors of the Rittenhouse.

"Right heeeeeree!" I lean back against the brick wall as I jiggle the keys in front of me. She tries to take the keys out of my hand but I quickly move it in another direction. "Too slow! Ahaa!" I try to move the keys again but she steals it out of my hands before I have the chance. I massage my left hand with a frown on my face, "Ow, Ali. Why you gottabeso_ rudeeeee_?"

xxxxx

"Which car is yours?" I'm asked as we walk inside the parking garage across from my job.

"It's a Camaro. Silver Camaroooo." I try to walk straight ahead but the floor keeps shifting underneath me. Right as the floor did its pull the 'cloth from the table trick' under me, Alison grabs under my right arm to support me from falling.

"Here's your car. C'mon." Alison waits for me to regain my balance so I could walk into the passenger side.

"My _caaar." _I go to give a hug to my Camaro but it stops me midway as I hit the side of the front and leaned over the hood. "Shit" I hissed out, grasping my side. Alison jogs over to my side to help me up.

"Are you ok?" She examines me.

"Yeah, yeah. I'mok." I mumble as I grasp my sides.

xxxxx

The bright lights of my apartment lobby blinds me as Alison and I enter my apartment lobby. _Fuck. Why is it so fuckin bright? Is Moses and his seven dwarfs parting the White Sea?_ I think to myself as I cover my eyes like a baseball cap lid.

"Emily wait." The blonde tells me.

"No, I'm going to my room."

"Emily. Stop." In a more demanding tone.

"Nooo! It's bright. I'm going upstairs." I whine as I continue to walk. _Don't you see that they have the flood lights on in the sky? I'm not going to be zapped up by NASA. _

I slowly try to make it across my lobby, holding onto the lobby chairs towards the side. Leaving the sitting area, I try to fast pace it to the elevator.

"Hey, Emily!" Jacob calls out at the front desk.

"Hi, Jake!" I say in a high-pitched happy, sober-like tone as I continue to try speed walk past him to the elevators.

"Congrats on your Race!" He calls out.

"Thanks, Jake!" I say in the exact same tone not really interested in a conversation right now.

"Have a good night!"

"Ok, Jake!"

I finally get to the elevators and become instantly tired, as if it took me to use all my muscles and strength to complete that walk. I lean against the wall in-between the two elevators as I presses the 'up' button. _Man, all that power fucking walking made me exhausted._

"Why didn't you wait?" A voice startles me from behind. I turn to look at hazy triple faced blonde.

"Because… I'm _trying _to get to my room."

xxxxx

The blonde has one of my arms of her shoulder to support me as I graze my wall with my hands as I trudge up my stairs. Making it to my bed, I fall onto the sheets on my back. "Ughhh," I groan. I feel my right leg being lifted up as my shoe is being taken off. I pop my head up to see the blonde taking off my shoes.

"You don't haffta do that" I use all my energy to sit up on the edge of my bed as my other shoe is being taken off. She bends down to pair the shoes together by the side of my bed when I reach for her hand.

"_Heeeey_, Ali" I purr her name as I pull her body in-between my sitting legs. "Hey, Ali…"

"Em-" She voices but I cut her off as I groggily stand up.

"C'mere, Alison" I pull her closer to me, making sure there is limited space between us. "Ms. DiLaurentis."

xxxxx

I look down, "I know-I know we only meet this month," I slowly begin playing with her fingers. "But…I know who you are." I look up to her as I try to gaze steadily into her blue eyes, "and I like it."

"Emily, listen. You're drunk and-"

"Ali, stopstopstop." I shake my head. "I'mnot. I'm not drunk."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not," I mumbled over her, "No I'm not." I pressed my forehead against hers. "Ali, you're so beautiful." I sway my body side to side against hers. "Seeing you again…it's bringing all my feelings I had for you in high school."

I pull back as I take a strand of her hair out of her face and place it behind her ear.

"Can I kiss you?" I whisper as I cup her ear, leaning into her whether she says anything or not.

The blonde pulls away from me as I pull her back and lean in for a kiss. I could feel that she's stunned by the sudden kiss but I don't care. I take my hands and gently place them on Alison's face guiding our lips together. The kiss lasts only for a couple of seconds as I lightly tug on her bottom lip as she pulls back placing her hands on top of mine.

xxxxx

"Youra fucking tease, Alison." I slur out as I eye the blonde standing in front of me.

xxxxx

"Say it." I demand as I sit on top of my bed. Alison reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. I get up way too fast which causes me to have an unbalanced stance. After a long second of recuperation, I stumble towards Alison and yank her phone out of her hand. Surprised at my intrusion to her space, she starts grabbing at me to get her phone back. I raise her iPhone above my head, knowing she won't be able to reach.

"Give it back, Emily!" frustrated, she starts hitting me.

"Say it and I'll give it back." I command. She continues to strike me as I bring my hand down and use both hands to grab her wrists. I pull her closer to me, "Fucking say it, Ali."

xxxxx

"Being a little bold, are we?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I've always been bold." Alison shoots right back, challenging me.

"Oh Really?"

"Yep."

I slowly nod my head not breaking eye contact. "This is a dangerous game, you're playing…" I laugh as I wag my finger at her. "Daaaaangerooousss game."

"You must not know," Alison leans into me, "I'm running this fucking game." She says in a low growl.

"There she is." I crack up. Finding her 'intimidation' funny. "There's the Alison DiLaurentis I know so well. Who knew how many drinks it took for you to come out?"

xxxxx

Emily quickly takes off her jacket as she throws it, not caring where it landed. She crawls onto the bed, her cross pendant necklace dangling as she hovers over the blonde, seductively licking her lips.

"I'm not going to do anything unless you tell me to." Emily patiently waits for permission.

"I-I've never done this with a girl." The blonde nervously stutters under the brunette as her heavy brown eyes are now dark with lust.

"And I haven't done this in three years but" she looks over her up and down and smirks, "I'm pretty sure we can figure something out."

**Note to self: Whatever mood you're in prior to drinking, alcohol will definitely heighten it so _try not _to be around someone that you _kinda _had a crush on.**


	9. Chapter 9: Waitwaitwait

**For those of you that were confused at the ending of the last chapter, yes, the reason why it seems like you're missing parts because its Emily's distorted remembrance of that night. It's almost as if you were watching a movie and as you watch it, the screen fades out to black then fades back in, missing whatever during the blackout. Fades out then in. Out and in. The pieces will slowly come together, don't worry.**

***Gives an awkward smile as I slowly back up while the readers eagerly read this chapter***

CHAPTER #9: Waitwaitwait…

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Emily starts to stir out of her sleep from last night in the Monday morning. Slowly opening and closing her eyes, when she finally opens them, she immediately shuts them again because they begin to burn. She grimaces as she gets a 'good morning' greeting by an intense thumping sensation throughout her skull, as if her brain is trying to break out. She coughs a few times which makes the headache feel even worse. _Oh my god._ She groans as she props herself on her elbows. _I NEED WATER. _Emily thinks to herself as the cough itched her throat.

"What the hell?" Emily mutters with barely a voice. She looks down at herself to see she's only wearing an over-sized sweater and boy shorts.

_What the hell happened last night?_

Getting out of the bed, she squints as she looks around the room. Scanning around her she stops at her night stand. She sees a container of Aspirin and a bottled water. Wondering how it got there, Emily assumes that she left it out for herself from earlier and just doesn't remember. She weakly reaches over, shakes out two white pills, throws it in her mouth and downs the bottle water until there is no liquid left inside.

"_Hahahahahaha"_

"_Wrong move!" laughs Emily's stomach._

Sitting extremely still on her bed, Emily closes her eyes and slowly breathes through her nose.

Her eyes shoot open and she instantly gets up, sprinting to her bathroom with her hands covering her mouth tightly. She lifts up the toilet seat and hurls out the water, the pills, and whatever left she had in her stomach. She tightly grips the toilet as she uses all her energy to throw everything up and out.

_Oh God!_

…_.._

Her fast heartbeat throbs with a heavy pressure sensation on her chest, pins and needles, crawling sensation on her skin as Emily continues to hug the toilet. Emily has had her share of Alcohol in the past with hardly a consequence but this particular hangover is causing Emily to swear off alcohol in its entirety. Feeling like she's done with the heaving, Emily's body trembles as she slowly takes off her sweater and underwear, trying not to trigger another episode. She crawls over to her shower and feebly turns the knob to hot. She sulks as she closes her burning eyes, body still shaking with her migraine becoming even more intense. When the water turns from cold to hot, she inches into her shower, laying in a fetal position; allowing the hot water to hit her aching shaky skin.

…..

Laying in the shower for an undocumented amount of time, Emily gains 1% more strength than before. She turns off the water, grabs a towel and crawls on all fours back into her bed. Approaching her bed, Emily comes across different articles of all over her floor. Socks…shirt…bra…pants.

_What…? _Emily's room is always exceptionally clean so seeing things thrown all over the place instantly tells her that something's up. Emily tries to remember her last moments last night but, due to the horrendous headache, she doesn't want to use her brain for anything.

Finally getting to her bed, Emily wraps her naked body underneath her sheets, having absolutely zero energy to do anything but die. With her eyes burning, body shaking, head throbbing, and, at any given moment, she could throw up, hot tears start to form.

_I'm never touching alcohol ever again._

As Emily rethinks her life choices, she hears her phone buzzing on the floor beside her. She slowly brings her arm out of the sheets as she leans her body towards the floor to pick up the phone. She squints at the caller ID.

"Hello?" Her raspy voice nonexistent.

"Whoa. You sound like shit." Jacks observes the brunette's voice.

"I feel like shit." Emily groans as she ducks her head inside her sheets.

"I thought you would, sooo I'm on my way to baby you. I saw how hard you went last night and knew you were gonna feel it in the morning so I got you some things to help you."

"No, no." Emily woozily disapproves. "You don't have to do that."

"Too late, already on my way."

"I won't be able to answer the door anyways. I'm stuck over here in bed and can't get out."

"Well, how am I supposed to nurture you back to health if I'm locked out?

…..

"Riverloft Apartments. This is Jacob, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Jacob this is Emily," Emily groans as she rubbed her temples, making her way out of bed.

"Oh, hey, Emily! Are-Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I need a request from you really quick."

As Emily slinks down to the carpet floor, her hand pinched by a sharp object. She winces as she looks down to see what she landed on.

_A ring?_

She looks at the fashion ring that she knows doesn't belong to her.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Uhmmm…" Still distracted by the jewelry, "There is going to be a guy who is going to walk through the lobby. About 6'1, tanned, kind of muscular, tattoos, black hair" Emily tries her best to describe Jack as it becomes painful to even talk.

"Basically look out for a guy who looks like he could be in a punk rock band?"

"Kind of, yeah. If you see him, can you let him up to my apartment, please?"

"Sure thing. Are you sure everything is alright? You sound like you're in pain." Jacob asks genuinely concerned about Emily's well-being.

"No, yeah I'm OK, Jacob. Thanks"

"Alright. Is that everything?"

"Yes, thank you."

"OK, see you later."

…..

Emily, now in a small top and shirts, lays huddled on her dark blue/grey Microfiber sectional couch in her living room, waiting for Jack to arrive. The light shining in from her large window, causes Emily to grab a couch pillow and cover her face with it. Still aching and shivering, Emily feels like she's on her death bed.

_Ok. Think, Last night. Went to the bar, had a few drinks, got home. _Emily remembers the basics. _How did I even get home?_ Emily begins to concentrate as some muddled events slowly start to replay in her mind.

"**Come on, Emily." A female voice calls on her as she pulls her arm.**

**xxxx**

"**Where are your keys, Em?"**

"**Right heeeeeree!" she leans back against the brick wall as she jiggles the keys in front of her.**

**xxxx**

"**Noooo, I'm going to my room."**

Emily squints at the ring in her hand. _Ok…I was taken home…By somebody who left their ring. _Emily starts to process. _I was brought home, tired, threw off my clothes…and had a ring…? Home, clothes, ring…that isn't mines…_

A loud knock on her door interrupts her brainstorming session.

"It's open!" Emily musters up all her remaining strength to call out.

Jack enters the apartment with a two bags in his hands.

"Aww. My little buddy is experiencing her first extreme hangover," He lightly coos, not trying to be loud to Emily's sensitive's ears.

"Please, don't taunt me. I took me everything in my body to even get down here." Emily's voice muffles under the pillow on her face.

He takes a seat next to the dying brunette as he rummages through his bag, "Alright, you're probably super dehydrated so I got you some coconut water, not only to satisfy your thirst but packs potassium which you need." He holds up the two bottles even though Emily can't see them. "Crackers. The good kind from Keebler Club. When you've been drinking too much, your liver is busy metabolizing the alcohol and can't handle the extra work, so your blood sugar levels stay down. Carbs can help bring your blood sugar levels back up." He explains as he puts the box down beside him. "Some ibuprofen for the headache, fruit for energy _aaaaand _I cooked you up my world's famous_ bitchin' hangover _soup_; _Guaranteed to soothe your troubles." Jack takes out a covered container of soup. "Nice place by the way, it's very open and roomy."

"Thank you, Jack but I won't be able to keep any of that down."

"You've been throwing up?"

"Mhmm." Emily whimpers still behind the pillow.

Jack rubs Emily's leg, "it's okay. Uncle Jack is going to take care of you," He says in a baby voice.

…..

Leaning against the arm rest of her couch, Emily slowly nibbles on some crackers, "What happened last night because I'm trying to fit pieces together but I can't." She lightly whispers, gradually regaining her voice but still sounding hoarse.

"Well," Jack takes a bite of his sandwich, "You got fucked up. Like _really_ fucked up. I blame that all on Ryan because he should have known that you were hitting your limit but he kept serving you." Jack disapprovingly shakes his head, "That surgery must have done something to his brain because that's rule number 1."

"**Alright, what can I start you ladies off with to drink," Ryan asks as he takes his pen and pad out.**

"Ryan was serving us…" Emily mumbles to herself, remembering a little piece of last night.

"You were mixing _drinks_, taking _shots_, just partying up like the little college girl you are."

Emily cringes at her excessiveness, "I'm never drinking ever again."

"Said every person who's ever had a nasty hangover." Jack laughs as he takes another bite of his sandwich.

"I'm serious," Emily looks down at her crackers, "I'm never touching alcohol again."

"You're a _bartender_ so technically…you're going to be touching _a lot_ of alcohol. Look at this as a positive experience. Now that you know what a hangover feels like, you'll be able to advise others of what not to do."

"My body feels like I'm being dragged to hell. I can hardly open my eyes, I feel like I could throw up at any second, and I can't stop shaking. It feels like I got hit by a truck." Emily hugs herself.

**Emily hit the side of the front of her car, leaning over the hood. "Shit" she hisses out, grasping her side.**

"The shakiness means that you've had more alcohol than your body can handle. _Again, fucking Ryan._ It's caused by a reduced level of electrolytes in blood, which are required for cell activity. Without them, the body is unsteady so it's like your body is in a mild form of shock from the exposure to the alcohol."

Emily focuses as she tries to remember more from last night. _Ring…Why do I have this ring? …Where have I seen this ring before?_

**Emily uses all her energy to sit up on the edge of her bed as her other shoe is being taken off. The caretaker bends down to pair the shoes together by the side of my bed when she reaches for her hand.**

**xxxxx**

**She look down. "I know-I know we only meet this month," Emily slowly begin playing with her fingers. "But…I know who you are." she looks up to her as she tries to gaze steadily into her blue eyes, "and I like it."**

Emily's gasps to herself as she widens her bloodshot eyes, immediately looking at the ring she kept. _Nonono…_

"Did…Did I leave with a blonde?" Emily chokes out.

Jack hums in agreement as he takes a bite of his sandwich.

_NONONONO, JESUS!_

Feeling the magical sensation of nausea, Emily tries to hold back the feeling of fainting.

He continues in between chews, "Yeeep. Last thing I said to you was, 'you two kids-"

"…be safe." Emily mumbles along with Jack as she painfully remembers those last words.

Jack glances over at Emily, oblivious to her sudden mid-life crisis. "Lucky she was there to take you home because we would had to call a taxi which I wouldn't be 100% trusting letting a stranger take you back here."

**Emily's body waves on top of the blonde as she begins kissing her. But instead of kissing her lips, she places them across her jawline, down her neck, paying particular attention to her collarbone and the nape of her neck. "You're so soft…" Emily hums as she caresses Alison's bare side. She continues to work down the beautifully sculpted body underneath her as she trails kisses down her chest, working over her breasts, down her stomach, moving her way down to her hips.**

"**Mmmm…" Alison's throat vibrates as her entangled her fingers slowly start leaving Emily's hair as she goes down on her. Emily stops at her hips, gazing the light blue lace hipsters in her way. She lightly traces her finger across the top, teasing the squirming girl underneath her. She smiles to herself as she traces the outline of the lace, "Do you want it?"**

"**Mhmmm." With her eyes closed, the blonde bites her lip as eagerly she nods her head. **

"**Use your words, baby." Emily purrs as he slowly crawls her fingers inside the panties.**

"**Yes, I want it." Alison breathes out.**

"**Look at me."**

**Alison opens her eyes as she looks at the hungry brunette, waiting.**

"**What do you want?" her voice growls, eyes narrowed like she's ready to pounce on her prey.**

"**I want you inside me…." Alison pouts as she whimpered, looking directly into Emily's eyes.**

**Emily looks at her for a moment before she leans herself down, kissing, licking and even nibbling on various parts of Alison's lower body; keeping her guessing. In an instant, Emily is above Alison so they are eye to eye. Alison's pleading blue eyes meeting Emily's ravenous brown eyes. Alison takes both of her hands and places them on the sides of Emily's face. Emily grabs Alison's right hand with her left and forcibly pushes it onto the bed as she strokes her middle finger outside of her.**

**Alison mouth parts, begging as she continues to gaze into Emily's eyes. Emily bows down and kisses her, her tongue grazes the roof of Alison's mouth as Emily slides her finger inside, causing Alison to gasp and arch her back. Emily intently looks at the blonde as she slowly drags out of her and trails up to brush her fingertip against Alison's sensitive clit. She pushes her finger back in, stroking inside of her to find her sweet spot. Emily kiss her again, pushing her tongue inside's Alison mouth to taste her while gradually pumping in and out, gaining a rhythmic motion. Alison softly moans into Emily mouth as her breathing gets heavier and heavier. Emily takes this opportunity to slip in another finger.**

"**Is this okay for you, gorgeous?" Emily whispers to Alison as she kisses her jaw.**

"**Yes." She huffs out as if she was holding her breath. "Yes, right there, right there..." Her whining tone fills the room. "Fu…ck! Emily, baby…"**

"Who-Who took me? Who took me home?" The words rushing out of Emily's mouth.

"That little blonde babe." Jack nods as leans back into the couch.

"J-Jack, I don't have time for your riddles. It's making me very nauseous and the last thing I want to do is throw up on my couch because I can't make it to my bathroom upstairs." Emily anxiously alerts Jack.

"Oh shit, let me get you the trash can." Jacks jumps up and power walks towards Emily's kitchen.

"Jack…tell me everything you saw until after I left."

"Well let's see…" Jack makes his way back with a cylinder silver can.

**Emily leans against a wall, attempting to tie her shoes as Alison approaches Amy. **

"**It's time for us to go home, it's soon to be 1:30am. We can't stay here any longer." Amy instructs Alison as her eyes are fixated on Emily. **

"_**Alright**_**," Alison murmurs as fixes her hair, "Just give me three minutes, I have to use the bathroom."**

"**You want to use the bathroom **_**here**_**?" Amy turns to Alison with a disgusted face.**

"_**Trustme**_**, I don't like public bathrooms but I can't hold it. All those drinks are pushing against my bladder," Alison complains while holding her stomach. Even though the girls had a good amount of drinks, everyone's at different levels. **

**Amy is a little bit past buzzed.**

**Alison is slightly tipsy.**

**And Emily…**

**Emily is sloppy and sad.**

**Alison is off to the restroom as Emily is off to walk down the stairs. Amy jogs to Emily and grabs her arm, "No. No. We have to wait." She directs Emily as if she was a little kid. She walks Emily to the edge of the bar and places her by a stool. "We have to wait for a second, ok?" She nods at Emily as her warm voice soothes Emily's ears. Emily looks at her with heavy glazed eyes and she nods her head in agreement. **

…**.. **

**Waiting for about five minutes, Emily begins to become restless. Amy walks towards Emily.**

"**How are you gonna get home, Em?" Jack asks as he wipes down the bar counter. "If you need it, I'll call you a cab."**

"**Nooo. It's ok." Emily sees the blonde approaching her, "**_**She's**_** gonna take me home, Jack. Don't worry about me." Emily lean against a bar stool as she swivels around like a five year old.**

"**Come on, Emily." Amy softly calls on the brunette as she lightly pulls her arm in her direction. "We gotta get you home."**

"**Okaay." Emily gets up from the chair, "**_**Byeeeee**_**, Jack Dawson!" she wave to her coworker as she stumbles trying to catch up to Amy.**

"**Bye!" Jack waves back to the girls, "You two kids be **_**safe**_** now!" He winks.**

"She's _so_ sexy, that was girl was." Jack looks down grinning as he shakes his head, "Looking like Amber Heard. _God!_" He sucks in his bottom lip.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait" The words falling out of Emily's dry mouth as she feels like the world is spinning _too _fast.

"You need the can?" Jack leans over, grabs the trash can and hands it to Emily.

"Nononononnononono. Waitwaitwaitwait." Emily shakes. "I left with Alison. I _know_ I left with Alison."

"_Nooo_, you left with Amy."

"Jack, I left with Alison."

"No you didn't, Em. You left with Amy. Alison was in the bathroom when you guys left. She asked me if I have seen you guys and I told her that Amy took you home."

Jack's words turn into echoes as Emily begins to get lightheaded. _NonononoNONONONO. _Emily tremors turn into full blown shakes as she closes her eyes._ God, please. Let that be a dream._

"I-I-Is Is Is there a way that-that you can confuse a d-dream for reality?" Emily trips over her words as her heartbeat quickens.

"For you? I mean it's possible. When you're wasted you would think something, a conversation or action happened when it didn't. You can _also_ misread your drunken memories. Like for example, you _swear _you saw someone or you _swear_ you had a certain convo but in actuality it was misconstrued by a fantasy or..."

As Jack continues to talk, Emily's memory flashes as she remembers the clothes on the floor, the medication and water by her bed and…

_The ring in her hand. _

Still laying down, the world stops. As everything moves in complete slow motion, Emily becomes extremely dizzy, unable to focus. She feels like, as Jack's talking, her heart is pounding so hard that it's going to rip through her skin.

"_HELL NO._ _All aboard the Nopetrain on the way to Fuckthatville_!" says Emily's soul as it leaves her body.

Her breathing pattern becomes panicky as she clutches onto her chest.

_I…I….I fucked Amy?! _

A tingly feeling spreads over her whole body, having a sense of unreality, as if she's watching herself from a distance. With this sudden change of emotion to add on top of her hangover, Emily starts thinking of ways of a quick death.

"Heyheyhey! Are you ok?!" Jack jumps towards Emily as she looks like she's having a panic attack.

"Can-can you givemethebucketplease?" barely understandable, Emily shakily mumbles.

**WHAT? ANO! WAS! O QUÊ! QUOI! QUÉ! COSA! AND ALL THE LANGUAGES FOR WHAT THE HELL?! **

**Looks like _someone_ was betrayed by a drunk girl's recollections.**

**You know, the horrible Ms. Marlene King once said, "Flashbacks and recollections can be slightly altered by the emotion of the person who's telling it," (Be sure to think about that as you watch the show.)**

**But...I'll give you this moment to scream...**

**Sidenote: Reading smut is one of the best things in a story, don't you agree? Especially, if there has been buildup over a course of time, it's like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.**

**However, **_**writing **_**smut is a whole 'nother ball game. Shout out to the writers who can just pull those out of thin air because *Wipes sweat* Whew! That was my first time writing that.**

**There is a lot of thinking you have to do to be able to bring it to writing terms because you have to be able to imagine it and write it down in a way that others can imagine it as well. Plus, there are a couple words I just **_**hate**_** saying so I have to be very creative haha. With that being said, I was finally in my groove. I found a rhythm and I was just going with it like, "Oh man, this is gonna be good." **

**No lie, at that exact moment, the storm outside caused for lighting to knock out my power. I SAT THERE IN THE COMPLETE DARKNESS OF MY ROOM, WITH MY MOUTH HANGING, FOR A GOOD TWO MINUTES.**

**I believe God sent me a bolt of lightning and was like, "**_**Chill with all of that**_**."**

**Let's take the time to thank Word for AutoSaving my work because I was _NOT about _to start over. **

**But…I think at this point of the story, with the information you guys just got, you could care less…. **

***Nervously wrings hands* "Good luck on your finals if you're taking them!"**


	10. Chapter 10: Tease of an Aftershock

**Interesting…**

**Last chapter was the highest viewed chapter with the most emotional and intense set amount of reviews. **

**I wonder why…**

CHAPTER #10: Tease of an Aftershock

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Getting ready to clock out of an early shift, Emily is in the back room putting things away before she leaves. She's feeling a lot better than she was yesterday, hangover wise. However, the constant regret, confusion and anxiety is still as strong. Especially from this morning when she was getting ready for work.

_**Breathe in and breathe out. **_**Emily exhales as she leans over her bathroom sink. "This doesn't make **_**any sense. **_**LIKE NONE!" She pushes herself up and looks into her mirror to apply her eyeliner except she can't even focus on her makeup since she's dealing with a crisis.**

"**I can't even drink and control myself without trying to get into someone's pants like a freaking hormonal boy…" Emily regrettably moans as she shakes her head. "But…But I just don't get this. I'm, thinking that I was with Alison but I'm with Amy? How and why the FUCK would Amy go along with it when I'm calling her Alison?! Isn't that like…reverse rape or something?!" Emily ponders for a second. "But was she as drunk as me? Because that's the only way I could see any of that happening." **

**Emily puts her eyeliner down on the sink counter as she leans against it again, thinking. "Alison…What the hell am I gonna tell Alison? How am I gonna even bring this up?" Emily's stomach falls to the pits as she imagines Alison face when she tells her what she did. **

_**IF I tell her…**_

"Hey, Em!" Valerie pops her head from outside the door.

Emily takes a look towards the door, "Hey, V" she says before she continues checking inventory.

"After you clock out, you're coming with me to Lush. I want to get some things."

Emily spins her head towards the redhead immediately. "W-why do you want me to come?"

"Because I want someone to go with." Valerie steps next to the door.

Emily faces back to the shelves of alcohol, shaking her head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

_Think of something!_

"I've been there so many times that I think they're tired of seeing my face." Emily lies as she forced out a fake laugh.

_Out of all the lies you could have told, that's what you come up with?!_

"That's great! Then you can help me with my shopping. I'll drive us to and back so meet me outside in 10, OK?" Valerie taps on the door as she nods at the brunette, walking away.

"Wait, I-"Emily tries to call out but Valerie already left her behind. She huffs loudly as she puts both fists against her forehead. _I can't do this. I'm just gonna tell her that I have some type of emergency to tend to. Yeah…. That'll work._

…..

"Emily, come on." Valerie looks at Emily standing right outside the doors, refusing to take another step.

"Just give me a second," Emily takes out her phone and pretends to do something on it.

"Alright," Valerie steps in and Emily starts with her thoughts moving a mile a second.

_I'm gonna die. _

_I'm gonna walk in and die._

_I'm gonna die in a cosmetic store. _

_Either by Alison already knowing and attacking me as soon as I walk in,_

_Alison finding out right then and there and attacks me,_

_Amy slips up and Alison attacks me,_

_Either way_

_I'm gonna die in the hands of Alison._

_She going to transform from _

_Ali from Philly _

_to _

_Alison from Rosewood _

_and ATTACK ME._

Emily begins to lightly shake as she debates whether she should make a run for it or not. As closes her eyes, takes a huge breath in and walks through the doors of Lush Cosmetics. Spotting Valerie immediately, Emily hurriedly paces towards her, not looking around for Alison or Amy.

"Have you tried of any of these facial creams?" Valerie asks Emily with two different products in her hand.

"Uhmm, No." Emily responds jittery. "How long are you going to be in here for?"

"Just a few minutes…" Valerie continues to inspect the creams, unaware of Emily's impatience.

Emily starts fiddling with her hair as she looks at the products in front of her.

"Hello, Is there anything I can help you guys with?"

Emily and Valerie both turn to the Lush Employee, Emily's legs instantly becoming weak.

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaamy. WHY._

"Uhm, no thank you." Valerie smiles at Amy. "Em, you need to get anything?" Valerie turns to Emily who is failing to keep her sudden surprise to herself.

_Valerie, why!_

"N-No-no. I-I'm good." Emily shoves her hands into her pants pockets, daring not to make eye contact with Amy.

"Ok, well can you check out their cleansers for me, please? I need the one called '_Ocean Salt'_." Valerie points in the directions of their cleansers.

_VALERIE FUCKING WHY?!_

Emily presses her lips together as she tries to contain herself, "Ok…." Emily glances up at Amy who is wearing a worried expression. Emily walks past Amy in the direction of the cleansers in the far right hand corner of the store.

"Ok, I'm just gonna come out and say this," Emily begins as she turns to face Amy. "….Ok, I don't know how I'm gonna come out and say this." she becomes defeated, looking up to the ceiling, trying to find the right way to start off this particular conversation.

"Look, Emily-"

"You know what I don't understand?" Emily bluntly cuts Amy off. "I don't understand how someone could be so devious and take advantage of a situation in which the person is both vulnerable and inebriated. First, I didn't understand because I didn't know. But when the pieces finally came together, and _trust me_, they painfully did, I _STILL _can't grasp the concept because it's entirely _fucked up_!" Emily becomes heated as she tries to keep her voice at a whisper. "I just want to know how you slept that night. How did you live with yourself yesterday?" She leans into Amy, "How can you do that to your _friend! _With someone you just_ met!"_

"Emily!" Amy yells out in a raised whisper looking around at the nearby customers.

"No!" Emily snaps back, "Is this how you get yourself off at night? Climbing into bed with random strangers that you hardly even _know_?"

Amy goes to open her mouth when she's interrupted yet again.

"Hey…what's going on…?" Alison hesitantly approaches the duo bickering in the corner.

Emily and Amy both snap their necks towards Alison, Emily's face turning from irritated to terrified.

_OH FATHER DEATH, TAKE ME NOW._

…**.To be continued….**

**Be **_**completely, super**_** honest…**

**If you were in Emily's shoes at Alison's job with Amy standing right next to you…**

**How would _YOU_ handle the next few moments of that conversation?**

**Comment &amp; Review ;)**


	11. Chapter 11: All Comes Down

**To clear up any confusion, Alison nor Emily have never "verbally" said they liked one another. However, there is this unspoken set of tension between them that would hint over wise. Emily purposely showing up at Ali's work, Ali taking a $1200 trip to Richmond to see Emily swim. (I actually added up all the expenses; round trip ticket, rental, and hotel. That's roughly how much she would have spent leaving last minute.) However, Emily is more "expressive" with her feelings whereas Alison isn't. And that'll all make sense later. So Emily isn't necessarily thinking, "Alison and I are potential girlfriends and if she finds out, she's never going to talk to me again." It's more of a, "I like Alison but if she finds out, this would ruin the chance of anything starting between us because she won't trust me."**

**Let's see how the cookie crumbles...**

CHAPTER #11: All Comes Down

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Amy goes to open her mouth when she's interrupted yet again.

"Hey…what's going on…?" Alison hesitantly approaches the duo bickering in the corner.

Emily and Amy both snap their neck towards Alison, Emily's face turning from irritated to terrified.

_DEATH TAKE ME NOW._

"Hey…" Amy slowly changes her sights from Emily to Alison.

"Hi." Emily mumbles, rubbing the back of her neck.

"….Is everything ok?" Alison looks at Amy confused as if she walked into a couple fighting.

Amy looks at Emily, who looks at Amy before looking at Alison.

"Yeah-Yeah. Everything is fine, I….I just had to ask Amy something." Emily tentatively answers, feeling very uneasy.

"About what?" Alison presses as she crosses her arms in front of her. Not in an angry matter, but more in an uncomfortable stance.

Emily parts open her mouth as she looks onto Amy, "Uhm, I…I found out that, last night, her and I…..both…..paid Ryan a tip!" Emily lies through her teeth to save face. "Yeah. I paid him twenty and she gave him a ten so I was just distressed that we didn't come to an agreement prior of how much we-we were gonna tip…Ryan."

"Yeah," Amy slowly nods as she plays along with Emily's charade. "If I would have known that you gave him a twenty," Amy turns to Emily, "I would have never gave him that ten because…that was my only ten…"

Emily presses her lips together nodding at the first blonde and looks at the second one. Alison cautiously looks in between the two girls.

"But-but uhmm…Thank you guys for coming with me to that party and thank _you_, Amy," Emily turns towards Amy and gives her a knowing look, "For bringing me home. You're such a _good_ friend."

Amy intently looks at Emily as she nods her head, "Y-yeah. You're welcome…"

Before any other words were exchanged, Valerie approaches the three. "Excuse me, sorry to intrude but Emily I have to go pick up my brother from practice so we gotta go." Valerie states feeling the tension between the group.

Amy turns around, skims the shelf and pulls out a cleanser, "Here is your Ocean Salt cleanser you asked for earlier," Amy gives a fake smile to Valerie as she hands her the product.

"Thank you," Valerie smiles back. She jerks her head at Emily in the direction of the checkout.

Emily nods, "Uhm, I'll see you guys later." She looks down as she walks in between the workers. She walks beside Valerie who is eyeing her.

"Was everything alright back there?"

"Yeah. Everything's cool."

…..

Emily parks into the parking garage of her apartment and shuts off her car. She wallows there for a second before moving. She rests her forehead on her steering wheel, "Why? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy. UGH! This is gonna end bad." She shakes her head, "This is gonna end _so bad_." She opens her car door and drags herself out of the vehicle on her way to her apartment.

…..

Trudging her way through the apartment lobby, Jacob waves her over to the front desk.

"Hey, champ!" He says merrily before his expression changes. "What's the matter?"

Emily put her face down inside of her folded arms on top of the desk. 'I'm just having a bad day." She grumbles.

"Want to tell me about it?"

Emily shakes her head, still faced down.

"….Is it because of what happened a few nights ago?" Jacob leans into Emily and whispers.

Emily pops her head up like a groundhog. "Please, don't look at me different." She runs her hand through her hair, eyes drifting down, "I made some bad life decisions."

Jacob scoffs, "_Please_. I used to be the King of bad life decisions." Emily looks up at him, "You know me as Jacob the front desk attendant but back home, I was Jacob the frat boy." He chuckles at himself, "BIG timer."

"You were in a fraternity?" Emily raises a brow, never thinking of Jacob as such. He looked more like an academics type rather than the partier type.

"Yep! Whenever there was a party, I was there. If there was beer, I would normally get wasted because it was "fun and cool", right?" He shakes his head, "If anything I should be afraid that you'll look at _me _different."

"I wouldn't. It looked like you turned out fine."

"Now, I did. I had to get a big reality check to do so. I was throwing away opportunities, losing myself and didn't have any _real_ friends to help me. But you," Jacob shakes his finger at Emily, "You have real friends."

Emily stands up straight, "What do you mean? How would you know that?"

"Because I've seen them. That night when you came back."

"Them?" Emily confusingly asked, turning her head to the side.

"Yeah, the two blondes you came in with." Jacob looks down at his desk as his computer pops with a notification.

"Wait. Two? I was only with one other person….right?"

"Well, technically. You came in with one and another person showed up. You kept walking towards the elevator when they followed you up to your apartment."

"Ok, Jacob?" Emily closes her eyes as she pulls her hair back, "Jacob can-can you put that in laymen's terms because I'm very confused right now as to what you're saying."

Jacob looks up from the computer and laughs, "You must have been _really_ gone that night, haha. This is what happened."

"**How are you gonna get home, Em?" Jack asks as he wipes down the bar counter. "If you need it, I'll call you a cab."**

"**Nooo. It's ok." Emily sees the blonde approaching her, "**_**She's**_** gonna take me home, Jack. Don't worry about me." Emily lean against a bar stool as she swivels around like a little kid.**

"**Come on, Emily." Amy calls on the brunette as she lightly pulls her arm in her direction. "We gotta get you home."**

"**Okaay." Emily gets up from the chair, "**_**Byeeeee**_**, Jack Dawson!" she wave to her coworker as she stumbles trying to catch up to Amy.**

"**Bye!" Jack waves back to the girls, "You two kids be **_**safe**_** now!" He winks.**

**Alison rips off a sheet of paper towels to dry her hands. She looks in the mirror on last final time to make sure she doesn't look as tipsy as she feels. A few other women make their way until the restroom and Alison leaves with the door still jar. She looks around for Amy and Emily but sees them nowhere. **_**Maybe they went to the lower deck. **_**She makes her way to the bar where Jack is tending to a few patrons.**

"**Hey…Jack, was it?" Alison tries to remember Jack's name but everything is clouded to her.**

"**Yes it is. How can I help you, my lady?" Jack pours the beers and passes it to the awaiting men.**

"**Have you seen Emily and Amy? There were just here a few minutes ago." Alison grabs onto a stool for slight support as she tries to be as aware as she can since she's been left alone.**

"**Yeah, they left a few minutes ago. Amy decided to go ahead and take Emily home. Was she your ride?" Jack asks, walking towards Alison.**

"**N-No. But I-I drove here but she was gonna drive, yeah." **

"**I can call you a cab if you'd like. How far do you live from here?"**

"**I stay at the Embassy Apartments." Alison decides to sit inside the bar stool since she's not going anywhere.**

"**Oh, you're good. You're right there." Jack takes out his phone and dials the cab company that is associated with the bar.**

"**Can I get some water?" Alison asks as she folds her arms in front of her on the counter.**

**Jack balances his phone in between is ear and shoulder as he pours Alison a cup of ice cold water. "Hey, this is Jack from Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse, how are you?" **

…**.. **

"**I'm good, I'm good. I have a patron here that needs a lift to their apartment." **

**...**

"**Yeah. Embassy Apartments." **

…**.. **

"**Yeah, yeah." **

…**.. **

"**Alright, Ok. Question, is Carol making any stops tonight?" **

…**.. **

"**Yes, if you could please send Carol here. I'd feel more comfortable with that." **

…**.. **

**Jack nods his head at Alison. "Alright. Thank you." **

…**.. **

"**Oh that's perfect." **

…**. **

"**Aright, thank you." **

…**. **

"**Bye."**

**Jack ends his phone call and places it in his back pocket. "They should be here in less than five since they are a few streets away. I had them send a good friend of mine, Carol over to take you home. I'm not too particular about a male driver doing that deed since you're not 100%."**

"**Thank you, Jack. Very nice of you." Alison takes a sip of her water.**

"**Of course. How was your night here? Did you enjoy yourself?" Jack begins sweeping this floor behind the bar.**

"_**Yeeeah**_**. It was fine. I think I went a little more than I should have…Drinking-drinks aren't really my forte." Alison moves her hair out of her face.**

"**Hey, it isn't for everyone." Jack goes straight into the question. "How long have you been friends with Emily?"**

"**Uhmmm…Not that long. I mean I knew her in high school but I didn't really talk to'er."**

"**Why not? Different circle of friends?" Jack puts the broom in the corner.**

"**Yeah." Alison ponders for a second before she props an elbow on the bar and rests her hand in her hand, "I was quite mean to her friends actually." She closes her eyes as the alcohol is having her reveal more than she intends.**

"**Really?" Jack surprisedly asks, leaning up on the counter in front of Alison.**

"**Yeah, I wasn't the nicest person back then but-but I'm different now."**

"**What did you use to do?"**

"**Just make fun of people, making their lives hell because I knew I could. I was never mean to Emily but I was rude to her friends. But never Emily."**

**A drinker puts his hand up to pay for his tab, Jack slides towards him to collect the money.  
Why never to Em?"**

"_**Idunno**_**... She was different. Like this innocence about her made me not want to say anything mean to her. Normally I wouldn't care but it was something…I-I think it's her eyes." Alison plays with her cup of water, "Even though I didn't know her, it was like she was hard to disappoint."**

"**That **_**does**_** sound like Em." Jack nods his head towards the customer as he gets up to leave. "What's you guys' relationship looking like now? It looks like you guys are cool with one another."**

"**Well, I guess we're friends. I went to her swim meet in Virginia and all of her friends were there. As soon as I walked to congratulate her, they **_**attacked**_** me. But she was there, Emily was there to defend me." Alison drifts her eyes downward. "I don't see why she **_**wants **_**to associate with me. She's a good person. I don't deserve someone like that."**

"_**Hey, now**_**." Jack walks back towards Alison. "Everyone deserves a good person in our lives. They are the light that bring us out of darkness. They encourage us to be a better version of ourselves."**

**Alison stares ahead for a moment before taking another sip of her water.**

…**..**

"**You're cab just pulled up," Jack says as he pockets his phone, getting the notification from the cab driver. "You have enough money to get from here to there right?"**

"**Yeah, I think so." Alison staggers to her feet, "Thank you."**

"**No problem, baby girl."**

**Alison slowly makes her way from the stairs, to the door, to outside where the cab waited by the sidewalk. Alison opens the back door and throws herself inside.**

"**Embassy Suites?" Carol, the cab driver, looks over her shoulders to a ruffled Alison.**

"**Yes, please." Leans back into her seat.**

…**..**

**Approaching her apartment, she looks at the taxi meter. $**_**5.65 **_**Alison grabs her wallet and pulls out six dollars, ready to give them to the woman when it's time for her to leave. Unable to park in front of the apartment, due to some construction work, Carol parks a few yards away from the entrance at a street corner. **

"**Is this fine for you?" She asks as puts the taxi into park.**

"**Yeah, I could walk." Alison looks ahead to give Carol the money but her eyes drift out in front of her. Down the street, she sees a girl holding up another girl as they stagger back and forth towards the front of their apartment entrance. She squints, trying to make out the two but can't because of the lack of street lighting.**

"**Uh…Do you mind pulling up forward to that apartment up there?"**

"…**.Riverloft?"**

"**Yeah, I think so." Alison continues to squint. **

**Carol puts her car into drive as she drives for a few seconds up the street to another apartment building. She gives the woman the six dollars, "Keep the change." Alison quickly hops to the other side of the backseat and opens out the back door. **

"**Amy!" Alison calls out right before Amy disappears inside.**

**Amy looks behind her to see Alison coming out of the back of a taxi cab.**

"**Emily wait." Amy tells Emily.**

"**No, I'm going to my room." Emily slurs out a responds, still lurching forward. **

"**Emily. Stop." She says in a more demanding tone.**

"**Nooo! It's bright. I'm going upstairs." Emily whine as she continues to walk**_**.**_

**Amy turns back to Alison and walks outside towards her.**

"**Alison, I'm so sorry I had-"**

"**Wait," Alison cuts her off, putting a hand on her shoulder for balance from moving to fast. "Ho-how are you getting home?" **

"**I don't know, I drove Emily's car here."**

**Alison points to the taxi still parked, "You might want to get that one before it leaves."**

**Amy nods at Alison and she jogs towards the taxi before she takes off. Talking to carol, Alison shakes her head as she fixes her hair. Trying not to lean over, Alison walks to the apartment lobby doors and holds it open to have something to lean on.**

**Amy walks back to Alison, "Thanks. Uhm, I'm sorry again that I left you. Emily was becoming restless and I had to take her home. How did you find your way here?" Amy asks quickly before she has to hop into the taxi.**

"**My apartment is literally down the street from here." She weakly points down the street as Amy turns her head. **

"**Wow. What are the chances of that?" Amy turns back towards Alison surprised. "But Emily is somewhere in the lobby. I told her to wait but she's being stubborn. You might want to get to her before she makes a mess."**

…**..**

**Emily slowly tries to make it across the lobby, holding onto the lobby chairs towards the side. Leaving the sitting area, she tries to fast pace it to the elevator. **

"**Hey, Emily!" Jacob calls out at the front desk.**

"**Hi, Jake!" she says in a high-pitched happy, sober-like tone as she continues to try speed walk past him to the elevators.**

"**Congrats on your Race!" He calls out.**

"**Thanks, Jake!" she says in the exact same tone, not really interested in a conversation at the moment.**

"**Have a good night!"**

"**Ok, Jake!"**

**Alison spots Emily turning the corner so she tries to pick up the pace before she loses her.**

**Emily finally gets to the elevators and becomes instantly tired, as if it took her to use all her muscles and strength to complete that walk. She leans against the wall in-between the two elevators as she presses the 'up' button. **_**Man, all that power fucking walking made me exhausted.**_

"**Why didn't you wait?" Alison asks Emily when she catches up to her, startling the resting brunette. **

**Emily turns to look at hazy triple faced blonde. "Because… I'm **_**trying **_**to get to my room."**

**The elevator dings as it opens and Alison helps Emily get inside.**

"And that's all that happened."

Emily holds both hands over her mouth and nose, eyes widened as she looks at Jacob is astonishment. _SO IT WAS ALISON!_

"Is….Is everything ok?" Jacob questions the weirdly acting brunette.

"Oh…..Oh you don't know what you just did." Emily huffs as she leans over with one hand still on the desk, catching her breath.

"Wait!" she stops, "Oh no…" She looks back up at Jacob. "Thank you…Thank you, Jacob. You are an angel. I'll talk to you later, k?" Emily turns towards the elevators jogs in that direction.

"Uhmmmm….Okay….?" Jacob confused but then laughs to himself.

…..

**Alison opens the door to Emily's apartment. The first thing she notices that it's completely dark but then, right away, she notices how Emily lives. Although all the lights are off, the moon from outside shines into her large window that is in her living room, giving her such a good view of downtown from the floor she's on. While she's passing her kitchen and approaching her living room, she sees the stairs heading to a bedroom. No doors or extra walls to block, just stairs straight to her room. **_**Wow. This is a pretty nice space. **_**She has one of Emily's arms over her shoulder to support her as Emily grazes the wall with her hands as they trudge up the stairs. Making it to her bed, Emily falls onto the sheets on her back. "Ughhh," she groans. Alison picks up her right leg and pulls her shoe off. Emily pops her head up to see the blonde taking off her shoes. **

"**You don't haffta do that" she uses all her energy to sit up on the edge of the bed as her other shoe is being taken off. Alison bends down to pair the shoes together by the side of her bed when Emily reaches for her hand.**

"_**Heeeey**_**, Ali" Emily purrs her name as she pulls Alison's body in-between her legs. "Hey, Ali…"**

"**Em-" Alison voices but Emily cuts her off as she groggily stands up.**

"**C'mere, Alison" she pulls her closer, making sure there is limited space between them. "Ms. DiLaurentis."**

"**Emily, you got to lie down and go to sleep." Alison looks away from Emily's drunken eyes.**

"**I don't wanna sleep." Emily defies, "I wanna talk to you."**

"**It can wait until the morning." **

"**No it can't because I won't say it in the morning."**

**Alison looks up at Emily who is looking down at her.**

"**I'm grateful that you came to my swim meet because you didn't have to. When everyone confronted you like that, I-I didn't like it. At all. Everyone kept trying to tell me that you're this evil person that I know you're not. I defended you so many times that night. Against Aria and Paige. But Paige." Emily intertwines her and Alison's hand together. "Paige and I are nothing now. Just past memories." **

**Emily looks down. "I know-I know we only meet this month," she slowly begin playing with Alison's fingers. "But…I know who you are." she look up to her as she tries to gaze steadily into Alison's blue eyes, "and I like it."**

"**Emily, listen. You're drunk and-"**

"**Ali, stopstopstop." she shakes her head. "I'mnot. I'm not drunk."**

"**Yes you are."**

**"No, I'm not," Emily mumbled over her, "No'mnot." she presses her forehead against Alison's. "Ali, you're so beautiful."**** She sways her body side to side against the blonde's. "Seeing you again…it's bringing all my feelings I had for you in high school." **

**Emily pulls back as she takes a strand of Alison's hair out of her face and place it behind her ear. **

"**Can I kiss you?" she whispers as she cups her ear, leaning into her whether she says anything or not. **

**The blonde pulls away from the brunette as Emily pulls her back and leans in for a kiss. She could feel that Alison is stunned by the sudden kiss but Emily don't care. She takes her hands and ****gently places them on Alison's face guiding their lips together.**** The kiss lasts only for a couple of seconds as Emily lightly tugs on Alison's bottom lip as Alison pulls back, placing her hands on top of Emily's. Alison looks at Emily timidly with a mixture of emotions but doesn't know exactly how to feel.**

"**Emily, you don't want to do this." She breathes back as she looks in her eyes.**

"**Alison stop," Emily moves her and Alison's overlapped hands from her face and brings it to her chest. "Let this just happen. I'mnot going to hurt you. I promise."**

**As Emily closes her eyes to lean in for another kiss, Alison pushes her away with more force than she intended, causing Emily to stumble backwards against the edge of her bed. Crossing her hands in front of her, Alison looks away from the brunette trying to come on to her.**

"**Youra fucking tease, Alison." Emily slurs out as she eyes the blonde standing in front of her. **

"**What are you talking about?"**

"**You've been giving me all these signals all night and now you want to act like **_**you're **_**innocent**_**?**_**" She looks at Alison up and down.**

"**I didn't know you liked me." Alison shakes her head as she stands her ground.**

"**That's **_**bullshit**_**, Alison!" Emily voice climbs a few pitches as she laughs. "That's bullshit and youknowit. You knew this entire time I've liked you not just now but for a long time. You knew this in high school that's why you were so nice to me." She cocks her head "I was like your lil' puppy dog and you knew it." She mocks. "I still remember the looks you would give me. Those **_**cheeky**_** expressions with those **_**mischievous**_** eyes." She points her finger at Alison still standing arms crossed as she plops on the bed. "Say it, Alison. You knew all along and this is all….an act."**

**Alison rolls her eyes as she ignores the ranting brunette.**

"**Say it." Emily demand as she sits on top of her bed. Alison, still ignoring, reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. Emily gets up way too fast which causes her to have an unbalanced stance. After a long second of recuperation, she stumble towards Alison and yanks her phone out of her hand. Surprised at Emily's intrusion to her space, Alison starts grabbing at Emily to get her phone back. She raises her iPhone above her head, knowing Alison won't be able to reach. **

"**Give it back, Emily!" frustrated, the blonde starts hitting Emily.**

"**Say it and I'll give it back." She commands. Alison continues to strike Emily as Emily brings her hand down and uses both hands to grab her wrists. She pulls Alison closer to me, "Fucking say it, Ali."**

"**Let go of me!" Alison trying to get out of Emily's tight grasps around her wrists.**

"**Stop strugglin' and just sayit!" **

"**Fuck you!" Alison seethingly snaps as she jerks her hands out of Emily's hold. She glares at her, "Don't you **_**EVER**_** fucking****grab me again."**

"**Being a little bold, are we?" Emily stumbles back as she raises an eyebrow.**

"**I've **_**always**_** been bold." Alison shoots right back, challenging the brunette.**

"**Oh Really?"**

"**Yep."**

**Emily slowly nods her head not breaking eye contact. "This is a dangerous game, you're playing…" She laughs as she wags her finger at her. "Daaaaangerooousss game." **

"**You must not know," Alison leans into Emily, "I'm **_**running**_** this fucking game." She says in a low growl. **

"**There she is." Emily cracks up, finding her 'intimidation' funny. "There's the Alison DiLaurentis I know so well. Who knew how many drinks it took for you to come out?"**

**As Alison turns towards the stairs and she proceeds to walk out, "Alison, wait." Emily lunges for her arm pulling her back to her.**

"**ARE YOU FUCKING **_**RETARDED**_**?!" Alison shouts out, agitatedly looking between her arm and Emily. **

"**Wait I'm **_**sorry**_**. I'm **_**so sorry**_**, Alison. Please don't go." Emily starts caressing Alison's arm. "Stay with me? Please?"**

…

**Emily quickly takes off her jacket as she throws it, not caring where it landed. She crawls onto the bed, her cross pendant necklace dangling as she hovers over the blonde, seductively licking her lips.**

"**I'm not going to do anything unless you tell me to." Emily patiently waits for permission.**

"**I-I've never done this with a girl." Alison nervously stutters under the brunette as her heavy brown eyes are now dark with lust.**

"**And I haven't done this in three years but" she looks over her up and down and smirks, "I'm pretty sure we can figure something out."**

…

**Emily's body waves on top of the blonde as she begins kissing her. But instead of kissing her lips, she places them across her jawline, down her neck, paying particular attention to her collarbone and the nape of her neck. "You're so soft…" Emily hums as she caresses Alison's bare side. She continues to work down the beautifully sculpted body underneath her as she trails kisses down her chest, working over her breasts, down her stomach moving her way down to her hips.**

"**Mmmm…" Alison's throat vibrates as her entangled her fingers slowly start leaving Emily's hair as she goes down on her. Emily stops at her hips, gazing the light blue lace hipsters in her way. She lightly traces her finger across the top, teasing the squirming girl underneath her. She smiles to herself as she lightly traces the outline of the lace, "You want it?"**

"**Mhmmm." With her eyes closed, the blonde bites her lip as eagerly she nods her head. **

"**Use your words, baby." Emily purrs as he slowly crawls her fingers inside the panties.**

"**Yes, I want it." Alison breathes out.**

"**Look at me."**

**Alison opens her eyes as she looks at the hungry brunette, waiting.**

"**What do you want?" her voice growls, eyes narrowed like she's ready to pounce on her prey.**

"**I want you inside me…." Alison pouts as she whimpered, looking directly into Emily's eyes.**

**Emily looks at her for a moment before she leans herself down, kissing, licking and even nibbling on various parts of Alison's lower body; to keeping her guessing. In an instant, Emily is above Alison so they are eye to eye. Alison's pleading blue eyes meeting Emily's ravenous brown eyes. Alison takes both of her hands and places them on both sides of Emily's face. Emily grabs Alison's right hand with her left and forcibly pushes it onto the bed as she strokes her middle finger outside of her.**

**Alison mouth parts, lightly begging as she continues to gaze into Emily's eyes. Emily bows down and kisses her, her tongue grazes the roof of Alison's mouth as Emily slides her finger inside, causing Alison to gasp and arch her back. Emily intently looks at the blonde as she slowly drags out of her and trails up to brush her fingertip against Alison's sensitive clit. She pushes her finger back in, stroking inside of her to find her sweet spot. Emily kiss her again, pushing her tongue inside's Alison mouth to taste her while gradually pumping in and out of her, gaining a rhythmic motion. Alison softly moans into Emily mouth as her breathing gets heavier and heavier. Emily takes this opportunity to slip in another finger.**

"**Is this okay for you, gorgeous?" Emily whispers to Alison as she kisses her jaw.**

"**Yes." She huffs out as if she was holding her breath. "Yes, right there, right there..." Her whining tone fills the room. "Fu…ck! Emily, baby…" A few more seconds pass of complete silence as Alison arches her back and opens her mouth with no sound. **

"**Emmmm! Emily….. Shit!" She moans loudly as her breath hitches; Emily slowing her strokes. Emily looks with amazement as she watches Alison slowly recover from her orgasm. Alison moans a few more times as she begins to control her breathing better.**

**Emily kisses Alison's extended out neck, "You look so beautiful moaning my name like that."**

…**..**

**Alison slowly moves around in the bed, fixing her pillow position. Steadily opening her eyes, she sees a wall in front of her. **_**What position am I laying in to see a wall? **_**She thinks for a second before turning the opposite direction. She silently gasps as she sees Emily sleeping peacefully with her back to her. **_**What the hell? **_**Just like in the movies, Alison closes her eyes as she lifts her sheet up to expose herself underneath. She was, indeed, naked. She quickly brings the sheet back down, looking frantically for her clothes which are scattered around a few spots on the floor around the bed. Wincing, Alison slowly slips out of the bed without waking the brunette. Knowing she drank the night prior, her hangover isn't as bad as she would thought it would be; A little unstableness and a dry mouth. She quickly and quietly finds her clothes and puts them on. The last thing she wants to do is the typical "one night stand morning dash", but she really shouldn't be here. Things could get very awkward very quickly seeing that their drunken actions got them in bed together. This is the fastest she's ever been in bed with someone, and, whether she knows the person or not, she's not particularly proud of herself. Having her clothes on, Alison searches for her wallet and keys. Looking on the floor and underneath the bed, Alison spots the pair on the night stand.**

**On Emily's side.**

**Her facing it.**

**Alison tip toes around the bed to the night stand. She grabs and pockets her wallet easily, however, she knows that the keys will be a problem. She grabs the keychain circle portion of the keys, between her thumb and index finger, and looks at Emily. As she's slowly lifting the keys, her eyes are fixated on Emily to see if she'll wake up our not. **

_**She looks so serene when she sleeps…**_

**Finally lifting the keys off the night stand, she quietly tip toes away from the bed, bends down, and grabs her boots. She goes down the stairs when she stops at the second step and turns back to Emily. She pauses for a second before walking back into her room and into her bathroom. She quietly opens and searches through her cabinet and draws. **_**Bingo. **_**She finds Aspirin. She closes everything and turns off the lights as she walks back towards Emily. She places the Aspirin on the night stand. She quietly jogs down the carpeted stairs and walks into her kitchen. She opens her refrigerator and finds a bottle of water. **_**Bingo #2. **_**Alison quickly makes her way back up Emily's stairs to place her bottle next to her Aspirin. **_**You'll thank me later. **_

…_**..**_

**Emily starts to stir out of her sleep from last night in the Monday morning, slowly opening and closing her eyes. When she finally opens them, she immediately shuts them again because they begin to burn. She grimaces as she gets a 'good morning' greeting by an intense thumping sensation throughout her skull, as if her brain is trying to break out. She coughs a few times which makes the headache feel even worse. **_**Oh my god.**_** She groans as she props herself on her elbows. **_**I NEED WATER. **_**Emily thinks to herself as the cough itched her throat. **

"**What the hell?" Emily mutters to herself with barely a voice. She looks down at herself, only wearing an oversized sweater and boy shorts. **

_**What the hell happened last night?**_

_**x**_

**Ah! So it **_**was **_**Alison. I wonder how Emily is gonna explain that blow up to Amy, just an innocent bystander who took her home.**

**My readers are smart, I see. I must turn up the surprise factor just a little bit more for the next times around. **

**Sorry for the lack of "new" smut. This chapter is already over 5,700 words so I thought I'd save it when they have a more **_**meaningful **_**get together. **

**But…But when will that be?**

**I honestly love how vocal and involved you guys are with this story. Makes me feel like I'm doing a good job. However, I must say, when everyone was losing their minds, it reminded me of when PLL would do something incredibly stupid that would cause everyone to go up and arms and burn the internet down. *Nods head* Such good memories. **


	12. Chapter 12: I'm Sorry

**I know! I know! Where have I been?! I'm not even going to lie to you guys, I just got incredibly lazy and have been binging on a show. Every time I would start this chapter, I would be like, "….I'll do it later." And kept pushing it back, back, back, back, back.**

**What show you ask? Well, I'm literally 10 years late and decided to watch Grey's Anatomy. For those of you who don't know, Grey's anatomy has 11 SEASONS. *Silently weeps for the pain I've put myself into***

**But I'm going to make it up to you guys, I promise.**

CHAPTER #12: I'm Sorry

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Alison puts all of her sketchbooks and writing utensils in her bag and walks out her class at The Art Institute. As she's approaching her car, she checks her phone for a message from a certain someone but is left with nothing. _Three days. It's been three days since my night with Emily and she hasn't text, call, or even tried to talk to me. And when she does appear, she's bickering with Amy and hardly acknowledges me; giving me the cold shoulder. You know what, I should have seen this coming. I ruined things by hopping into bed with someone who's drunk and expect anything from them afterwards. That night was a mistake. Huge mistake. It was exactly what it's called. A One. Night. Stand._

Right at that moment, her phone buzzes in her hand. She quickly leaves her thoughts and eagerly glances at her phone.

_[Caller ID: Dad]_

Alison sighs out an disappointed breath as she answers her phone, opening her car door. "Hello?"

"Hey, Alison. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Getting in my car, leaving my class." She puts her bag in the passenger seat as she sits in the driver's.

"Oh. How are your classes? You're enjoying them?" Her dad asks. Normal conversations between two people tend to flow smoothly but with this one, it's been choppy since the first breath; seemingly like her dad, Kenneth, was trying to force a conversation with Alison.

"It's definitely picking up," Alison puts her phone on speaker as she starts the car, "Testing to see who true artists are and what we can do."

"That's great, honey. I'm glad you're feeling better...Ho-how are your sessions this time around?

Alison pushes out a silent huff of air as she stops before she begins to reverse out of her parking space. She looks at her phone for a brief moment before responding, "They're fine."

"Good. That's good. I'm...I'm really proud of you, Alison."

Alison looks over her shoulder as she backs out of her parking space, "Yeah, well. I'm trying."

...

Before going home, Alison decides to stop at Shake Shack for a frozen custard to reward herself for her troubles. As she waited in line for her desert and finally was served, she turns away from the cashier when she sees a familiar face walking in. A face that she wishes not to see.

"Alison, wait." Emily softly calls out to Alison who walks right past her for the exit doors. Emily follows her outside to the parking lot. "Alison, wait!" She jogs behind her and grabs her free arm. Alison immediately shoots Emily a glare. A glare Emily remembers.

Emily lets go of Alison's arm, "I'm sorry." She quickly apologizes. "Can I please talk to you? It will only take five minutes. I promise."

"I have things to do," Alison coldly responses, "I don't have time."

"Ok. Three minutes." Emily speedily responds.

Alison looks at Emily with an impatient look, not wanting to hear Emily. But secretly wanting to know, why?

"180 seconds."

Emily takes a big, nervous breath, "I'm not ignoring you. I promise you I'm not. The reason I haven't contacted you is because...because I don't know. I didn't know what to say. This of this is all my fault. Everything is. I ruined everything with bad judgment. I know how I become when I get alcohol in my system. I knew what could of happened if I went overboard midway that night. I knew but I did it and I ruined anything that could have transpired between us. And because of my...cowardness, I probably ruined an inspiring friendship. Now, I don't blame you for not wanting to talk to me. I wouldn't talk to me either but...can I call you, tonight?" Emily breathes out, using all the air in her lungs to rush out that apology.

Alison continues to stare at the brunette. She gazes her over up and down before turning around and walking to her car, leaving Emily where she stands. _Ok, was that a yes or a no...?_

...

While most people are relaxing in bed, watching TV, or hanging out with friends, when night fall hits, Emily is pacing back and forth in front of bed looking at her phone. _I mean should I call or not? Was that a look of approval or disapproval? What if I call and she rejects it? Or just lets it ring?_ Emily stressfully runs her hands though hair as she continues to pace.

"Screw it." Emily grabs the phone but stops at the dial screen. She mentally debates again. "...Screw it." She goes to Alison's contact, presses call and hopefully puts the phone to her ear.

…_RING..._

…_RING..._

…_RING..._

…_RING..._

"...Hello?"

_She answered._ "Hey. Hi, Alison. H-How are you?"

'I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm good-I'm good. Uhmm..." She fishes for something to say. "Wha-what are you...doing...right...now?" Emily facepalms at the stupidity of the question.

"I'm at home. Watching some TV but nothing is really on right now so..."

"Well come over-I mean! Can-can you come over?" Emily smacks herself, "If you want...?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah. If you can. If you can't, that's fine too. But I think this conversation would be better in person and without a time limit because I get really nervous and kinda screw up my words."

"Ok. If you want." Alison agrees.

"Yeah. Yeah." Emily begins to pace. "Uhm, I can give you my address and room number if-if you need it."

"No need, I got it remembered."

"Right...ok. Well...I'll see you in a bit?"

"I guess you will...Bye."

"Bye." Emily hangs up the call, still staring at her phone. _Ok. Ok. This is happening._

...

Emily looks in her bathroom mirror as she fixes her black tank top and black drawstring shorts. She scans her clothes, face and ends up at her hair, which is falling freely. _Ok hair. Hair, hair, hair._ She mentally mumbles. _Hair down says "I'm relaxed and I'm comfortable."_ She takes her hair and wraps it up, holding it in place with her hand. _Bun says "I'm serious and I'm stressing."_ She lets her hair down and holds it back up again, several times. _Bun. Bun is good._

Simultaneously, Emily hears a knock on her door. _That can't be._ Emily looks at her phone's lock screen. _Eight minutes? What the hell?_ Trying not to keep her guest waiting, Emily takes the hair tie around her wrist and quickly puts her hair into a messy bun. Not your '_pretty, oh so cute_' messy bun, Your '_my life is in shambles right now'_ messy bun. She jogs down her stairs and speedily walks to the door. She takes a deep breath and exhales before she opens the door, revealing a "_Tired but I shuffled all the way over here in my pajamas_" Alison.

"Hi!" Emily puts on a welcoming smile. "Come in, come in." She moves to side, allowing Alison to walk into her apartment.

"Thanks." Alison walks a few steps forward as Emily closes the door behind her.

"Would you like something to drink?" Emily courteously asks to make Alison as comfortable as she can.

"Um, No, I'm okay. Thank you." Alison gives a tight lipped smile as she continues to walk to Emily's living room. She takes a seat at the edge of Emily's sectional, "You have a really nice place. How much are you paying monthly?"

Emily walks towards Alison with a bottle of water, "About 23. That's everything including."

Alison grimaces, "2300? Holy shit. I live in a studio and I pay only 1200." Emily sits down besides Alison, "How are you paying for this?"

"Well, the swimming scholarship I have helps pay some expenses; Tuition, books, supplies, rent/mortgage, food, etc. And plus, I make pretty good daily tips so I put it towards this, my car and have some pocket money for later."

"Wow," Alison nods her head as she looks around the dim lighted living room she's in. The only light on is a little lamp light in the corner and the city lights coming from the big window. "Looks like you got everything together."

"Kinda." Emily looks down at the water bottle in her hands. "Alison..." She looks at Alison who is still observing her apartment. "I want to say thank you." Alison stops her sightseeing and slowly turns towards Emily. "Thank you for watching out for me when I needed it. I don't remember much but I can imagine how much of a pain I probably was."

"You're welcome. I mean, we all were pretty gone that night anyways..."

Emily decides to just go straight for the main reason Alison is here instead of trying to have small talk.

"Do...do you want to talk about that night or…do you just want to wipe it from existence? Because I really regret that happening."

Alison gives Emily a semi hurt look, which Emily quickly rebounded.

"NOT that I regret it being with you! Be-because I didn't! I just regret that that was how we experienced our first time."

"First time?" Alison wrinkles her forehead.

"I-I mean first time together. Uh! First time hanging out, you know, after everything." Emily does about 20 mental facepalms because she knows she's screwing this up.

Alison tries to not laugh at Emily's uncomfort but holds it in and keeps a serious face. Emily closes her eyes and takes a deep breath,

"Alison, I like you...And this is my fault that things are now...awkward between us. I-"

"Stop apologizing, Emily." Alison cuts off the apologetic brunette which catches Emily by surprise. "It takes two people to do what we did. This wasn't your fault. I participated in that too so if anything, _I_ should apologizing because I took advantage of you." Emily's facial expression morphs from apologetic to slight relief and also confusion. "You were...hammered. I was nowhere near your level, I was just tipsy. That's it. You could barely tie your shoes without falling over, however, I still had enough sense and awareness to know what I was doing. You were saying things and doing things that I knew you had no control over but I still stayed around. When things starting to get intense, I should of left. But...I stayed knowing what was going to happen..."

Emily looks out in front of her, trying to wrap her head around everything. "I don't want to know the answer to this but...what was I saying?"

"Well," Alison adjusts her sitting position to become more comfortable "You were grateful that I came to your meet and that you liked me since high school..." Emily fought the urge to give herself a facepalm but kept her posture.

"Mmhmm." Emily presses her lips together, granting Alison to continue.

"And that's when you kissed me." Emily flinches out of embarrassment. "I went to pull away but I accidentally put too much force and shoved you back. That's when you basically cursed me out."

Emily's urge gets the best of her and she slaps her hand over her eyes, "Oh my god. I am so _so_ sorry."

"It's ok. I mean, you said something, I said something back, and we got into a small mouthy fight."

Emily shakes her head as her hand is still on her face, "This is so embarrassing."

"After all the words flying out, we calmed down and...you know..."

Emily rubs her face and looks up at Alison, "I want to make this up to you. All of this. I-I want to start from the beginning if you'd let me. Let me...Let me take you out tomorrow. Just you and I. No alcohol, no work, nobody else. Just you and me."

"Okay." Alison looks at Emily and nods with a faint smile, "I was just confused as to why you were avoiding me. I thought you were mad at me or something."

Emily wrings the water bottle in her hands, "About that...I need your help with something."

"What?"

"See…What I thought happened that night was that I went home with you. I _knew _I went home with you. But, everything was so fuzzy. I saw a blonde taking care of me and was _sure_ that it was you. So with that being said, my hangover waaaaaas a _bitch_!" Emily groans as she shakes her head, "Throwing up my intestines, shaking uncontrollably, brain about to burst, I mean it was bad."

"The Aspirin didn't help?" Alison asks, feeling bad that Emily had such a bad morning after.

"No, I threw them up. And that's the thing!" Emily shifts her body facing Alison, "I didn't know how they got there! So I chucked it up, thinking I must have put it there without remembering. So Jack, from work, came over to '_baby me' _so to speak. From talking to him, memories of that night slowly started to come back. That's when Jack threw that _bombshell _at me saying that I went home with Amy. From that point on, I became so sick because…I thought I had sex with Amy!"

Alison lets out a small chuckle as she cocks her head to the side, amused at this story.

"So I'm getting so sick and nervous because I knew if you found out, you would kill me. I-"

"Why-sorry to cut you off-but why would I kill you?" Alison asks.

"Because I got drunk and slept with your friend. I mean, _I _would get angry if someone did that to me so I just knew you probably would become furious. So knowing this, I tried everything in my power to avoid you two. But, of course, my friend and coworker, Valerie, tells me that she wants me to go to Lush with her. That's when I knew, _for sure, _that it was going to get ugly. When I walked in, I tried to rush Val out of the store but then, I ran into Amy. That's when you saw us talking. I was so mad and confused that Amy, _knowing I was drunk, knowing I was calling her Alison, _would still do the deed and sleep with me. That's when you came and I wanted to die. So I ran as fast as I could to run out of there."

Alison's giggles become a little louder.

"Alison, it's not funny. Like, I was sweating all hours of the day. Even in the shower, I was sweating! Which, I don't know how that's possible, but I was!"

"I'm sorry," Alison covers her mouth, "Continue, continue."

"So I'm dragging myself through my apartment lobby, thinking of ways to tell you what happened, when I see Jacob. Jacob is a friend of mine that works the front desk. He sees I was battling death and tells me that he, in fact, saw _you_ take me to my room and _not _Amy. I was so relived and happy that I slept with you and not Amy but then I realized that it's been days since we talked so I knew I had to find you Asap." Emily leans back as she closes her eyes, "I knew this sounds bad but I was damn near ecstatic that it was you and not Amy."

"Amy isn't _that _ugly, Emily" Alison laughs.

"No!" Emily jumps up. "She's not ugly. _At all! _In fact, she's very beautiful and I-" Emily shuts her mouth, "I'm just gonna stop talking because today my words decide to fly out without consulting my brain first.

Alison's laugh fades with a smile still on her face as she nods, "So you need help to apologize to Amy for embarrassing her at her job?"

Emily leans back and closes her eyes again, "Sadly, yes."

Alison nods, "I just need to find a way to tell her without actually telling her that we had sex."

Emily opens her eyes and looks at Alison, "Yeah…Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing, I know…"

"No" Alison furs her brows at Emily as she shakes her head, "No, it's not that it's embarrassing. I just don't want people knowing my business. Whoever I sleep with is between me and that person. Not me, that person and my entire workplace." Alison looks out in front of her, "They already gossip as it is. Last thing I need is people talking about my sex life as if it's the New York Times." Alison thinks for a moment, "I'll just tell her that…that…what did you even say to her?"

"I basically called her a slut" Emily regrettably groans.

"Damnit, Emily…" Alison shakes her head, "How the hell am I supposed to dig us out of this one?"

**Well, looks like the two finally made up. But what lie will they come up with to apologize to Amy? Emily plans on hanging out with Alison tomorrow to basically "catch up" since they haven't really talked. What will be brought up in those conversations?**

**I love it when you guys do that **_**thing **_**when you give your opinions and fangirl in the reviews ;) **

**From one fangirl to the next, Review, fav and follow! Tell your friends! :D**

**SN: While binging shows and being lazy, I came up with inspiration for other fic ideas. I'm thinking of writing a few other Emison stories that I think you guys will like but there is one...**

**I want to write a really drama filled Emison fic. Different then this 'adorable-like' story. I'm talking ANGST. You don't know what to do with yourself because you're questioning your life type story. Question is...would you guys read it?**

**Hmm...**


	13. Chapter 13: The Experiment

**So remember how I said I wanted to make a darker Emison fic? Well, my hopes and dreams were shattered two nights ago when I came across this BEAUTIFUL, SHOULD BE AWARD NOMINATED fic that basically mirrored **_**exactly**_** how I was going to set up my story. I mean, there were some scenes/dialogue that I came up with and wrote down as brainstorming and that fic basically paralleled it! **

**Everyone, please go read **_**"It's A Process"**_** By TGHall if you haven't already. That story is SO GOOD, I don't know if I even want to go on with my idea anymore :'(**

**Exquisite, SAD, but exquisite work of fiction!**

CHAPTER #13: The Experiment

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

In the back inventory room, having small talk with Amy, Alison tries to look for the right time to come up with an apology on Emily's behalf. Last night, she and Emily tried to come up with different ideas of a lie but, due to the lovely choice of words Emily decided to use, their options were _extremely _limited. Normally, Alison is pretty good with coming up with a lie on the spot, but this one definitely tested her abilities.

"How's you and you're little friend? She still hasn't talked to you yet?" Amy asks as she writing numbers down on an inventory sheet.

Alison bends down to pick up a handful of new products out of a box to stack on the shelves, "I actually spoke to her yesterday."

"What happened? She yell at you upon site and accused you of something too?"

"See," Alison stops putting away the products and turns to face Amy. "That's what I want to talk to you about. Emily is sorry for blowing up on you."

Amy crosses her arms with the clipboard to her chest as she shakes her head, "Why couldn't she tell me this herself? Why are you telling me?"

"Because Emily is a bag of nerves. She might look well put together but the fact is...she's awkward."

Amy shakes her head and closes her eyes in confusion, "She was over there yelling at me, talking about I hop into bed with random people. What the fuck was that about?"

"That was all a confusion." Alison halfway lies. "When we were at the bar, Emily talked to...Ryan. The waiter." Alison uses awkward hand motion to further her story. "And he was telling Emily...Maybe she'll get lucky that night. So then she..." Alison tries to come up with something on the fly, "She saw you...and...Ryan...together."

"Spit it out, Ali. Stop stalling. What happened?" Amy squints at Alison.

_That's what I'm trying to come up with Amy!_

"She saw you and Ryan and she thought-she thought she overheard you saying that you plan on getting lucky with her that night. _Buuuuut_ she was hammered and mistaken you for another blonde and I had to tell her you didn't say that-It wasn't you that said that because you're not like that. Now she's embarrassed and very _very_ sorry."

Amy lets out a forced huff, "Yeah, no, I _definitely_ didn't say that." She continues to count inventory, "I mean, I forgive her because she was wasted but damn. At least have the decency to talk to me and not run up on me at my job."

"Yeah, she's not like that at all." Alison bends down to pick up the shipment, "…Definitely was the alcohol." _Whew. Mission completed. _

...

Coming out of the shower, Emily is blow drying her hair to get ready to hang out with Alison soon. After finally deciding, she picked out a simple yet cute setup. Seeing that they both worked and Alison got out at 7, she wanted to take Alison to the Rittenhouse Square Park. A spacious spot in center city where lots of activities happen during the day. Jugglers, musicians and small vendors selling fun things. It's great to have a picnic when the weather is nice, you can sit around and see Philadelphia life go by. However, at night, the sights are amazing. The decorative lights puts you at immediate ease and a sense of peace. That's one thing Emily loved to do, walk the park at night. It sets such a tranquil scene to get away from the hustle and bustle. She even loved to go out to the area to sit alone sometimes or to bring a good book to read. _Perfect, perfect scenery for this re-do._

Breaking her thoughts, Emily's phone buzzes with a notification. She turns off her blow dryer and reaches for her phone on the sink counter.

_[1 New Message: Alison]_

Emily smiles as she opens the text conversation.

[Alison]: I'm almost about to get off. Where did you decide to go? (6:53pm)

[Emily]: Well, to one of my favorite locations located in downtown Philadelphia :) (6:53pm)

[Alison]: And where would that be? (6:54pm)

[Emily]: The Rittenhouse Square Park, of course. (6:54pm)

[Alison]: Really? The way the weather is right now you want to go to the park? (6:56pm)

[Emily]: What are you talking about? The weather is fine. A little bit on the nippy side but fine nonetheless. (6:57pm)

[Alison]: ….Don't you see it's raining? (6:57pm)

"Raining?" Emily questions aloud. She leaves her bathroom and walks over to the top of her stairs, looking out to the living room window. Sure enough, it was raining. _Damnit!_

[Emily]: Ugh! I didn't even know it was raining. I'm upstairs in my room, which you know has no windows. (6:58pm)

[Alison]: Yeah, it pretty much came out of thin air. What's your Plan B? (6:58pm)

Emily contemplates before texting back her answer. She had no Plan B so she had to think of something quick. Trying to quickly come up with something, she becomes defeated. She didn't want to go somewhere so public. That's one reason she wanted to go to the park. Even though it's public, you still have a sense of privacy when you're around others. _Hmmmmm…._

[Emily]: Plan B is…you coming over and we'll eat and just relax within the comfort of a safe environment with no worries of getting wet. (7:00pm)

[Alison]: That's your Plan B? (7:01pm)

[Emily]: We can go with Plan C if you want. That's us going to your place, eating and just relaxing within the comfort of a safe environment with no worries of getting wet. That's only if you want. (6:52pm)

[Alison]: Aha. What is this? A date? (7:02pm)

[Emily]: Totally not a date. (7:03pm)

[Alison]: Good. Because I'm not dressing up. (7:05pm)

[Emily] Me neither. Bummy Emily here I come. (7:06pm)

Seeing that she needed to act fast with time dwindling, Emily exits her text conversation, goes to one of her contacts and dials a number.

"Hi, I want to order for takeout?"

…..

_7:45PM. _Emily checks her phone to see the time. On the living room table, she has 4 different Japanese/Korean takeout boxes sitting on top, ready to be chosen and eaten. Next to the takeout, she placed an assortment of drinks. Juices, to be on the safe side. Because she's _not _dressing up because it's _not _a date, Emily is sporting a simple and clean outfit. '_Bummy Emily_'.

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

With a feeling of déjà vu, Emily shuffles to the door and opens it.

"Hello. Ma'am." Emily smile as she greets the knocker.

Alison smirks as she eyes Emily's outfit, "Bummy Emily?"

"A Mickey Mouse tee, plaid pajama pants and slipper socks." Emily throws her arms out, "Bummy Emily. And who are you supposed to be?"

Alison looks down at her outfit, a jacket covering a grey drapey tee with grey sweats. "I'm someone who just came out of work that so happened to be matching in her own 'bummy' attire."

"Looks appropriate for this occasion." Emily steps to the side to allow Alison entry. "You may enter."

Alison walks into Emily's apartment and immediately smells the hot food awaiting. "You got Chinese food?" She looks back at Emily.

"Japanese slash Korean. Just as good if not better than Chinese." Emily responds as she closes and locks her door. She walks towards the table with food, "Uhm, first box is white rice and spicy chicken," she points, "white rice, chicken and beef combo," she points to the second box, "brown rice chicken katsu and brown rice with chicken." She points to the last two boxes. "I didn't know if you like white or brown rice so I got both," Emily puts her hands on her hips and rocks on her heels, "So you'll have _choices_."

Alison nods her head as she looks out to the food in front of her, "Thank you but…You didn't have to do all of this. I would have been good with cheese and crackers."

"When people come into my home, they get the best I could offer. I wouldn't serve you cheese and crackers, _Minnie Mouse_." Emily teases as she playfully elbows her.

…..

With both girls sitting on Emily's couch, Emily eating brown rice with chicken and Alison eating white rice with chicken and beef combo. They've been talking about small things on what's happened to each other in the past few years but they have yet to touch on the past, which Emily is definitely curious about. The problem is that Emily is contemplating even bringing it up. But…she's going to dive right in. What's the worst that can happen?

"What are you majoring in?" Alison asks.

"Well, I'm majoring in sports medicine. If anything and everything fails, I could fall back and become a personal trainer. Help people reach their full potential."

"Oh, you're the handsy type." Alison slyly remarks as she eats.

"I feel that I could be a big help for others," Emily laughs as she ignores that remark, "What are you doing in school?"

"Working under the fashion design branch at AI."

"Oh, you want to become a fashion designer?"

"I mean, if you disregard my clothes right now, I do have a thing for putting things together and making them work. Do I do sketches and design some things here and there? Yeah. But out of that field, I think I want to become an assistant buyer."

"Assistant buyer?" Emily asks confused, "Like….you help buy things?"

"AB's are extremely knowledgeable. You gotta know your shit when it comes to brands and designers that are hot in the streets. You have to be able to think months ahead in regards to trends, and have a great mind for business and the kinds of product you think will sell out. Buyers use their sense of style and knowledge of trends to anticipate the kinds of gear people will be lining up to buy next season. That means looking for the warmest coats in the summer and the sexiest swimwear in January."

Emily strains a face a bit at that job description, "That sounds like _a lot _of constant work. Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

Alison shrugs as she looks down at her food, "Honestly, I don't know. I had to stick myself into some type of education and I thought, 'Hey? Why not it be fashion?' It's not my top, _that's what I want to do _choice but I guess that's what I'm working with."

"This kinda seems complicated." Emily slightly laughs, "It's like…I know you but I don't but I do…but then don't kinda thing." She takes a sip of Arizona Ice Tea.

"What do you mean?" Alison takes a spoonful of her rice.

"Like…I knew you from school, right? But at the same time, I didn't _know_ _know_ you. I just knew your face and name. Now I meet you again and it's the exact same thing. I know your face and your name. That's it."

"I know _your_ face and _your_ name but I don't know _you_." Alison retorts back.

"Touché, touché." Emily nods. "Well…Ask me anything."

"Ok." Alison thinks for a moment, "What was one of your most proudest moment in your life?"

Emily sucks in air, "Ooh. Good question, good question." Emily rests the box in her hands on her lap as she thinks. "Well, there are a lot of moments I'm proud of. Swimming, academics, and whatever else…But…" Emily slightly nods to herself, "I would have to say when I officially came out. Before then, I wasn't comfortable in my own skin and was living a lie because I was scared other what other people had to say. But, when I came out, I could breathe. It was as if that _thing_ I was stressed out about just left me. Now, it definitely wasn't easy from that point on but I would definitely chalk that up as my most proudest moment." Emily smiles to herself as she scoops up a piece of chicken. "My turn?"

"I'm actually interested in hearing more," Alison diverts back to the brunette, "If you don't mind."

Emily shakes her head as she swallows the chicken, "No, not at all. Ask away."

As Alison plays 21 questions with Emily, asking her all kinds of questions about her, her personality, and life, Emily starts picking up some subtle things. _Alison is distracting me from asking her questions with me talking about myself constantly. She has barely opened up. I'm still in the dark about her just as I was before she arrived…_

"Ok, ok. Enough about me. With all of this, you probably know my blood type by now." Emily stretches forward to put her empty takeout box on the table in front of them. She shift her body to face Alison as she brings her legs in to sit criss crossed. "Let's talk about you."

"There's really nothing to talk about." Alison leans forward to set down her box and picks up a beverage.

"There's plenty. So much so, we can make a game out of it." Just then Emily had an idea pop in her mind. She reaches for her phone on the table beside the takeout boxes. "To become a personal trainer or anything that deals with the body and helping others, you have to take psychology classes. Therefore, you know the mindset of people. That factor helps you help others better." She begins to look up something on her phone, Alison observing her attentively. "In one of my psychology classes, we learned about strangers, relationships, and vulnerability. There is this study that believes you can become very close, even fall in love, with a random stranger off the street," Emily looks up at Alison, "Just by asking a few questions."

"That doesn't sound fake at all." Alison sarcastically responds.

"Then let's try it. It's just a couple of questions." Emily looks down at her phone to pull up the questions. "I'll ask the questions. I'll answer them first then you can respond with your answer. Deal?"

"Alright."

"Ooookay." Emily gets comfortable, "Question #1_: Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?_ I would have to say Beyoncé. I _love _her." She chuckles to herself.

Alison nods as she ponders for a moment. "My mom…" Alison's answer slowly takes the smile off Emily's face and replaces it with encouragement.

"That's good." She gives a supporting smile. "Uhm, second question. _Would you like to be famous? In what way? _To be honest, I really wouldn't care to be famous because I'm not in need of the limelight. But, if I could, it'll probably be for my swimming."

"I wouldn't want to be famous." Alison responds on beat after Emily. "Extremely overrated."

The two go through the 36 set questions, beginning off in small talk. However, the more they go through, the more intricate and personal the questions get.

"_If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?_ "Hmmm…" Emily ponders for a moment, "I would say body of a 30 year old. I would still want to have my wisdom and memories but I wouldn't want to deal with my body breaking down."

"I knew you were gonna say that," Alison slightly smiles.

"Well, how did you know that? Are you a physic? Is there something you're not telling me?" Emily pretends to gasp as she widens her eyes.

"You're an athlete. You guys' worst nightmare is something happening to your body which stops you from competing." Alison responds back as she leans against the arm rest of the sectional. "I would rather retain the mind of a 30 year old. Too many complications with the brain that I would not want to go through my last 60 years. The mind…It's a powerful tool."

…..

"_Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?_" Emily winces at the question. "This one is a tough one…I'm going to keep positive and say I'll die of old age" Emily laughs, "Anything else is too depressing."

Alison looks forward at Emily's direction but not at Emily, "I probably would die in the hands of someone." She emptily states.

Once again the smile is wiped off of Emily's face, "Damn. That's…That's _brutal_." Emily responds nearly speechless. "Wha-why would you say that?"

Alison shrugs nonchalantly as she continues to look past Emily. Not liking that answer or Alison's outlook, Emily begins to become concerned.

…..

"_If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?_" _Shit…These questions are starting to hit deep below the surface. _"Uhmmm…I wish I wasn't raised to be so nice, I guess?" Emily raises her shoulders, "Because of that tiny aspect, I kinda allow people to walk over me. It's like, I can't say no sometimes." Emily glances at Alison who is looking down. She tries to read her in preparation of what she might respond.

"I wish my parents didn't give me everything." Alison replies as her eyes continue to sweep the floor. "Because of that, I got used it to it and expected nothing less. It molded me into a malevolent person growing up."

Emily slowly nods as she searches for something to say, "But at least you learned and grew. It taught you what you didn't want to be, right?"

Alison looks up Emily, "Are you in love with me now?" She waves her hand at Emily's phone, "Those questions. Is it making me dreamy?" She mocks.

Unknowing how to respond to that, she forces out a laugh, "I feel like I'm starting to get to _know know_ you."

…..

Emily beings to read another question but stops before letting a word out. _I should just skip this one. _She looks at the following questions after but they are just as worst and just as personal.

"What?" Alison notices Emily's hesitation. "What's the question?"

Emily peeps up at Alison as she opens and closes her mouth in reluctance, "H-how…How…do you feel….about your relationship with….your mother?"

Alison's face hardens, "What the next question?"

Emily takes her hand back as she rubs the back of her neck, "_What's your most terrible memory?_"

"Next question."

Emily rubs her neck a little harder, "_How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people's?_"

"I'm done." Alison shakes her head as she changes her sight direction away from Emily. "I don't want to play this little _bullshit _game anymore."

"I'm so sorry." Emily apologizes, not meaning to offend Alison. "I promise you this is the first time I have seen these questions. We learned about it but I never actually _saw_ the asked questions." She locks her phone and places it in her lap, "The point of that study was vulnerability. If you answer these questions in complete honesty, your partner begins to see you for who you really are and not the façade you put up. Therefore, creating closeness because you two are basically sharing your life story under an hour."

Alison continues to look away from as she shakes her head and crosses her arms. There is an awkward silence between the two for, what seemed, for a long time. Emily takes a deep breath.

"That night at the bar, that was the first time in a long time that I have gotten wasted. Not only because we were doing the hard stuff, but it's the first time I've allowed myself to go that far… but in prior years, I used to get like that all the time."

Alison interest is immediately peeked. She slowly turns her eyes towards Emily. "You used to be drunk like that frequently?"

Emily nods, "Enough times. I went through a dark period." Emily pauses before she continues, "See…Before I came out, I was with Ben. Horrible decision because I hated being with him. He was a nice guy but I didn't like him the way I acted like I did. Beginning of junior year, I met someone. She was…_amazing_…in every aspect. She made me feel things I've _never_ felt while I was with Ben. Even though I never told her I was gay, it's like she knew and kept pushing and pushing me to be myself. So I did." Emily wrings her hands in nervousness. "It definitely wasn't easy. My dad was supportive whereas my mom wasn't. She got her in trouble with her parents and she was sent to boot camp. I was _so _hurt because my mom did that purposely. I couldn't _see_ her the way I wanted to, _talk_ to her when I wanted to. I was so in need of her, I paid a guy, who is my now friend, money to hack into her phone provider so I could talk to her because, of course, I was blocked by the boot camp advisors. I was devastated and that's when the alcohol started feeling _really_ warm in my system. Once at the school dance, I got _wasted_." Emily chuckles as she shakes her head. "And not the funny, giggly wasted. The mad_, let me speak my mind _wasted."

She looks over at Alison and sees that Alison is fully absorbed in Emily's dilemma. "Fast forward, she comes back, my mom is more accepting and everything was… incredible." Emily smiles as she remembers old memories, "One thing I loved about her is how she didn't like labels or didn't care to fit in. She was the type of person who marched to the beat of her own drum. That…that was a problem to some people. She got in trouble with her parents again and they threatened to send her away again so she planned to run away. At a swim team party, she and I got into a big fight and she left. I instantly regretted it and I called her. And called her. And called her. And called her. I was so angry that she was ignoring me, I hated it."

"Did she break up with you?" Alison quietly asks, not trying to ruin Emily's story.

"I wish she did." Emily smiles as she feels tears forming in her eyes, "I wish that I could end this story with that we broke up and went our separate ways." She shakes her head, trying to hold back the tears, "But no, there is no happy ending."

Alison face falls as she sees Emily looks like she's about to breakdown all with a smile on her face.

"Since she's a minor and a run away, they labeled her as missing. Her face was plastered everywhere which made me even more upset when she was disconnecting contact with me. '_All for an argument?_' I would think to myself. At that time, I didn't even care what we fought about; I just wanted her back." Emily's voice begins to crack as much as she tried not to get emotional. "But that couldn't happen. It can never happen because she was taken away from me."

"Her and her parents moved?" Alison asks softly.

Emily gazes at Alison for a moment, not saying anything. Alison looks back at Emily sympathetically before Emily drops her eyes, "No….She was murdered."

Alison leans back as her mouth partly opens, astounded at the turn of events. She observes Emily's body language, not knowing how to handle that news. "What…what was her name?"

"Maya. Maya St. Germain."

_Maya, Maya, Maya…_ Alison thinks to herself, trying to place the name with a face. "Oh, Maya…I-I remember her. I remember hearing about her but I wasn't too interested in the story back then so I kind of ignored it." Alison sadly looks down at Emily. "I'm so sorry, Emily."

A couple tears escape Emily's eyes before she quickly wipes them away, "Her death rocked me harder than any number on a rector scale. To know that our last conversation was an argument. I could never take that back and replace it." Emily laughs as she leans her head back, looking up at her ceiling. "That summer was the worst summer of my life. I had to leave the country. _The fucking country_ to try to escape everything. But a sad person is a sad person in any country, right? I got drunk any time I could. Every opportunity I had, I was polishing them _down_ to escape myself." More tears run down Emily's face as she turns to look at Alison who is highly saddened by Emily's lost.

"Did you know that was this, right now, is first time in _years_ I mentioned her name yet alone talk about her?" Alison shakes her head, "I'm telling you this story because even though it's an anchor on your heart, it makes it a little bit better when you actually talk to someone. Doesn't do a lot but…it allows you a small air bubble to breathe in the black waters you're drowning in."

Emily puts her hand on Alison's leg, "Alison, I would never push you to talk about anything you don't want to but…I want you to know that you can talk to me at any time when it gets hard to breathe. No matter where I am, what time it is, you can always talk to me. If you need someone to give you an opinion, I'm here. If you need someone not to say anything and just listen, _I'm here._ I don't want you to bottle up your emotions."

Alison slowly nods at Emily. As Emily pats Alison leg, she breathes in deep breath and laughs again. "This isn't how I planned this night to go." She wipes her face with her hands, "I thought we would play a few games, eat up this food, and get cozy…instead we're over here doing this."

"Pretty odd _date."_ Alison cocks her head to the side with a slight smile as she matches Emily's laugh.

"Thought this wasn't a date?" Emily quickly replies back.

"It's not."

"Good."

**DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT EPISODE. O M F G. **

**WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BABIES IN THEIR ROOMS?!**

**I slowed down the promo for 6x02 and it looked like they were going through shock therapy/torturing each other and had forced pictures taken of them. I felt so sick during that episode. Everything is so dark and sinister. A is doing WAY TOO MUCH. **

***Claps* **_**THAT**_** is how you write an episode, Marlene. Five years. BEST episode in all of the five years we've been watching this show!**

**Back to the story: Darn rain caused Alison and Emily to stay inside for the night. However, things got pretty intense for a not date. Did that game actually bring the two together just as Arthur Aron, the psychologist, predicted? **

**BTW, thanks for the all the love for this story! Don't be surprised if you see a new Emison fic floating around….**


	14. Chapter 14: Oh, Come, Take My Hand

**:)**

**;)**

CHAPTER #14: Oh, Come, Take My Hand

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

After Emily and Alison's first non-date, they've seen a little bit of each other post days later. Ok, maybe more than a little bit. Quite often one might note. Not like they have during their non-date but ever since they found out each-others schedules, breakfast runs and quick lunch-ins have definitely been a thing between the two.

_[Monday, April 5__th__]_

**10:30am, Emily walks through the Lush Cosmetics entrance with a paper bag and hot drink in her hand. Seeing that there's a small amount of customers and employees out and about, Emily walks her way to the checkout desk where it's only Alison working the register. With Alison crouching down, checking for something in one of the compartments, Emily knocks on top of the counter to get Alison's attention.**

"**I'll be right with you", her voice travels as she continues to rummage. Emily smiles as she leans against the counter waiting. After a few seconds Alison pops up with a fresh roll of receipt paper. "Sorry to keep you wai-" Alison stops abruptly, surprised to see Emily grinning like a little child. **

"**So, I just **_**happened **_**to be in the neighborhood and I stopped over by Manhattan Bagel and thought you could use a little pick me up breakfast." Emily holds up a paper bag, "Inside holds a couple of hot, steaming butter croissants with a little sweet treat of cinnamon twists." Emily raises the sealed cup, "And inside this hot, hot cup, you have some hot, hot chocolate." Emily hands over the brought goods to Alison who is looking at Emily with an amused look. **

"**Hot, hot chocolate?"**

"**Yes, yes. I remember how you said the cold would remind you of how you used to bundle up with hot chocolate when you were younger and well," Emily stuffs her hands in her jacket as she twists her body to face the entrance doors, "It's a little chilly outside so I thought that you could bundle up with some hot, hot cholate." Emily grins.**

**Alison impressively nods as she looks inside the bag. "How did you know I missed breakfast?"**

"**SpongeBob told me this morning." Emily chuckles as she slowly backs up from the checkout aisle. "The most important meal of the day…servin' it up Ali's way." Emily sings her version of the popular quote.**

"**You still watch SpongeBob?" Alison calls out to the leaving brunette.**

"**Anytime I can!" Emily responds back as she leaves the shop.**

_[Friday, April 9__th__]_

**Emily walks to the backroom where she finds Jack. "Hey, I'm taking my lunch." She tells him as she leans against the door frame. **

"**So am I." Jack replies as he puts on his jacket. "Go ahead and tell Lewis to watch over the bar. He should be in the kitchen."**

**Emily leaves the back room and enters the kitchen when she sees Lewis talking to Ryan. "Hey, Ryan. Didn't know you worked today."**

"**Yeah, I came in for Sarah. She had some shit she had to tend to."**

**Emily nods as she turns her sights on Lewis. "Hey, Jack and I are taking our breaks so we need you to man the bar for a while." **

"**Alright, I got you guys." Lewis turns to Ryan for a quick goodbye before he walks out of the kitchen. Emily turns to follow but Ryan calls for her.**

"**Hey, Em… I never got to formally apologize for that night. I was irresponsible and-" Emily waves him off.**

"**You don't have to apologize, Ryan. It was an honest mistake. Besides **_**I**_** knew better." She laughs. "We're good."**

**Ryan breathes out a sigh of relief as he turns his head, "Oh, thank you. That was weighing real heavy on me. Especially when Jack ripped into my ass about it."**

"**Hahaha, no you're-you're good. We're good." Emily turns to walk out of the kitchen before she turns around at the door, "Don't think I forgot about your little **_**'I'm yours' **_**ordeal. I'm going to use it soon so be ready." Emily smirks a knowing smirk before she exits the kitchen. She enters the floor and walks to the farthest booth in the upper corner. **

"**So, what did you get?" Emily rubs her hands together eagerly as she slides into the chair opposite of Alison, ice water and a basket of fries awaiting her.**

"**Well, I thought we would play a little game. Make this lunch break interesting." Alison retorts with a smug face.**

**Emily slightly tilts her head to the side as she squints at the smug face Alison is shooting her way. "What kind of game are we talking about?"**

"_**Well**_** I ordered the **_**Cavanaugh's Award-Winning Wings**_**" Alison begins.**

"**Okay…"**

"**And they asked me what kind of sauce I wanted. You know, how **_**hot**_**."**

"**Yeah..."**

"**Sooo **_**I thought**_** we could play a game of who can eat the all of their wings first." Alison innocently smiles.**

**Emily laughs in confused manor, "You want to have a wing eating contest?"**

"**Mhmm."**

"**That's so cute. That's so **_**very**_** cute of you." Emily gushes. "Little Alison wants to have an eating game, aww." Emily mocks in her baby voice as she grabs some fries. Alison continues her smug look as she doesn't break contact with Emily.**

**Valerie walks up to the table with their order, "Alright!" She places the plate in the middle and two smaller plates to the girls. "A large order of wings, dripping in our 3****rd**** degree **_**hot sauce**_**. Enjoy!"**

**Emily nearly chokes on her fries as her brain tries to process what Valerie just said. "3****rd**** degree hot sauce?!"**

"**Mhmm…" Alison slowly nods with her conniving smirk.**

"**Tha-tha-that's…that's our suicide sauce." Emily wide eyes the smoking hot wings in front of her.**

"**So I've heard." Alison grabs the plate of wings as she begins to separate them. "Here's the deal. There are ten wings. That means five each. We're going to see which of us can successfully finish their five wings first. Five wings **_**saturated**_** in the Cavanaugh's suicide sauce." **

**Emily still stares at the wings in disbelief, "You order the 3****rd**** degree wings…"**

**Alison finishes separating the wings as she puts the empty plate to the side. "Wait a second…there is still some sauce left on here…" She grabs Emily's plate as she turns the sauced filled plate sideways so the sauce can fall on Emily's wings. **_**NO SHE DIDN'T! **_

**Alison shakes the remaining drops from the plate, making sure Emily's wings catch every last drop. "All done." She smiles to herself as she places the plate to the side. "If you need water." She points to their cups, "there they are."**

**Emily gulps as she finally breaks eye contact with the wings and looks up at Alison, "What's the reward for this?"**

**Alison shrugs, "Bragging rights. To see who is more **_**badass**_**."**

"**I-I need to pray before I eat this."**

**Alison snickers, "You **_**might**_** want to do that…you know, for extra protection." **

…

**Emily breathes with her mouth open as she ripped off a portion of the wings with her teeth. Only on the second wing, she can't bring herself to close her mouth because of the intensity. **_**Shitshitshitshitshit. **_**She quickly tries the chew with the sauce hitting every area of her mouth, burning. "Why is this so hot?!" Emily complains as she chews. She swallows as immediately reaches for her empty cup. **_**Fuck it. **_**She raises the cup to her mouth as the ice falls into her sizzling mouth.**

**Alison laughs as she grabs her third wing. She might act like this is a walk in the park but in actuality, she is dying inside. She made sure she told Valerie to really spice it up but it seems like Valerie bathed the wings in the sauce. As she bites into the wing, the overwhelming hotness instantly causes her to flinch, making her chew very slowly.**

"**Is this what you wanted?" Emily asks as she chews on her ice. "To go back to work on fire? We literally have hot breaths now!"**

**That last remark causes Alison to burst into laughter but that laughter didn't help with the wing still in her mouth. She sees Valerie about to walk by. "'Excuse me." Alison says with half her mouth moving. "Can we get refills, please?"**

"**Sure!"**

**Alison looks at Emily's plate, which still has three untouched wings. "Aren't you going to go for your third or are you chickening out?"**

"**Don't worry about me! Concentrate on not dying." Emily shoots back.**

"**What are you talking about? I'm fine."**

"**Yeah, but the sweat beginning to form on your forehead says otherwise," Emily laughs as she taunts Alison. She's completely right. If Valerie doesn't come back with the water in 5.2 seconds, Alison is going to transform into a human dragon and spit fire out of her mouth.**

**A few seconds later, Valerie comes back with a pitcher of water and refills the girls' cups. "How are we doing over here?"**

"**Valerie, why did you allow this?!" Emily cries out. "Why did you even allow this order to go through?!"**

**Valerie laughs at the dying brunette, seeing her in such agony she's never seen her in before. "She ordered it! I can't deny a customer!"**

"**She's no **_**customer**_**." Emily turns back to Alison who is trying to finish her third wing, "She's hell's gatekeeper." **

…

**Both on their last wing, Emily's competitive ego kicks in. **_**Hell no. She's not going to beat me. I'm a champion. Champs don't lose to…peasants. **_**Emily hurriedly chews on her wing, "You're a peasant." She mocks the blonde. "You're a peasant and I'm a champion. I don't lose."**

"**We're on land, Ms. Amphibian." Alison fires back, eyes focused on her wing. "This isn't your ball game." **

"**I'm gonna make it my ball game."**

**Emily grabs her cup of water and swallows a huge gulp before returning to an almost finished wing. She rips the top meat of the bone as she wipes her forehead with her arm. **_**I'm so gonna win.**_

**Alison sucks on the remaining meat of her wing as she tries to end with a bare bone. She glances to see how far along Emily is and she notices she's nearly 98% done. She sucks faster to finish once and for all. **_**I so got this.**_

**Alison sucking and Emily gnawing, the two furiously devour the remaining meat. Both having the same idea, they slam their bone onto their plate.**

"**DONE" "DONE"**

"**I FINISHED FIRST" "I FINISHED FIRST"**

"**NO I DID" "NO I DID"**

"**My bone touched the plate first!" Emily declares as she tries to discredit Alison.**

"**What are you talking about?! I put my down before yours!" Alison argues back.**

**Emily wildly points her saucy fingers at her plate, "I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!" As her wildly fingers flail, a tiny drip of sauces flies into the air…**

**And lands into Emily's eye. "Shit! My eye! It got into my eye!" She quickly shuts her right eye as it begins to burn.**

**In urgency, Alison quickly reaches for a napkin and accidently knocks over her cup of water, spilling all over her and the table. "Fuck!" she immediately stands up, her jeans drenched in ice cold water.**

"**ARGH! MY EYE!"**

"**SHIT! MY PANTS!" **

After a few more get togethers, you could definitely say that the two have created a bond, friendly more than anything. Which, Alison and Emily appreciates. Nothing is better than having a best friend within someone.

Alison opens the door of the Rittenhouse and jogs up the stairs to face a pretty busy house. She slowly makes her way to the bar as she walks past idle people. A few of Emily's coworkers see her and greet her as she makes her entrance.

"Hey, Ali!"

"Nice to see you, Alison."

"Alison!" Jacks calls out with his arms held out wide to the blonde as she makes her way to an open spot at the bar. "How's my favorite customer doing?" He leans, resting his crossed arms against the bar.

"I'm good." Alison smiles and nods back. "How's work tonight?"

"Ah! Business is booming like usual." Jacks scans the customers in front and around him. "This is the hot spot to be on a Saturday night. Especially when the games are on."

"I can imagine. This place is packed every weekend."

"Because we know how to sell!" Jack stretches, "Best damn Rittenhouse in the city."

Alison smiles and nods again as she looks around at the crowd.

"Hey, uh. Where has your friend, Amy been? I haven't seen her in weeks." Jack jumps the question.

"She's here and there" Alison waves her hands back and forth. "She's all over the place."

Jack extends one arm out with his other hand tapping on his chest, "Well tell her that she should come back down here. Jack, the friendly neighborhood bartender, requests her presence."

Alison amusedly eyes Jack, about to say something when Emily approaches the bar; ready to leave.

"Hey, Ali." She greets with a hug. As she pulls away, she faces Jack and scrunches her face, "Is he giving you trouble?"

"If I can understand the English language correctly, I think he likes Amy," Alison states still squinted at Jack who laughs off that comment.

"I'm just saying…" Jack backs up towards other waiting patrons. "You two have a good night, alright?" He waves as he begins to tend to a group of drinkers.

…..

"Where's your car?" Emily looks out into the city night streets, outside of the Rittenhouse.

"Oh, I walked here from work. Took a taxi before that. My car decided to not want to start so I have it plugged up in the parking garage."

"Oh, ok. That's no problem. We'll take my car." She begins to walk out into the street, putting a hand out, thanking the driver that allowed them to walk across. "Where does tonight's destination take us?"

"The park." Alison responds as she walks beside the brunette. "Since we couldn't go last time and tonight is a nice cool night, I thought why don't we go now?"

Emily turns and glances at Alison as they reach the other side of the street, "Have you ever been?"

"Not really. Always meant to but never got around to it."

"Well are you in for such a beauty." Emily grins to herself in excitement.

…

Emily parks on the side of the street, across from the park. She gets out of her seat as Alison does the same. Emily waits for Alison to walk over to her side so they can cross together.

"Now here, they have so much going on. You have the lights," Emily points to the bright yellow street lamp lights, illuminating the entire park. "That add to the ambience. And you normally have street vendors and people performing at various locations. It's just a nice place to visit. I personally like coming here when it's like this. It's just so…peaceful."

As they pass the Rittenhouse Square Park entrance, Alison looks ahead at the large, very well-manicured, maze like park. "This is something you see in movies. With the city night life and the lights and people."

"You'd be amazed at the scenes from popular movies that shot at this very place. You got…Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, Law Abiding Citizen, The Sixth Sense, The Rocky sagas." Emily looks around her, "This is just a very attractive park."

…

Emily and Alison aimlessly wonder the park, talking about anything that comes up, enjoying each other's company. As they continue to walk the public park, Emily spots a street vendor selling a sugary snack.

"Have you ever had churros before?" Emily asks as she walks ahead of Alison, facing her.

"No, what's that?"

"They're kind of like cinnamon twists. It's fried dough pastry that's really popular in Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino culture. Churros are fried until they become crunchy then sprinkled with sugar. It's soooo good. My grandma used to make them all the time." Emily leads to the vendor. She orders two churros each and watches the cook fry the pastry in front of them. She points out and teaches Alison how it's cooked before the vendor wraps them up and gives it to the two girls. They thank the man and continue to walk. Emily nibbling on the top part of the sugary snack.

"Mmm!" Emily groans as she closes her eyes in pleasure, "I haven't had this in _soooo_ long." She shoots a look at Alison who is about to bite in her snack. She eagerly eyes her to pick up her first initial reaction.

"This _is _good," Alison nods with her mouth full. She licks the cinnamon-sugar remains off her lips in impressiveness.

"Seeeee!" Emily beams, "I knew you'd like it!"

…

"Have you taken any vacations or trips lately? Gone to visit other states or cities?" Emily asks walking slowly beside Alison, taking another bite of her food.

"Not really…" Alison recalls as she swallows. "Oh, recently there was a party I was supposed to go to; Amy, Miranda and I. It was in Jersey, this big beach bonfire party hosted by one of my former coworkers."

"How was it? Did you go?"

"No. That day, there was this surge at work and everyone had to come in. And that completely ruined everything. It started at 7, we get off at 9. We would have to rush home, get ready, head on the road for like an hour and a half to arrive there around 11." Alison shakes her head, "That would have been too much so we just went to work, left and went to bed."

"Man," Emily sucks her teeth, "I hate when things like that happen. You have plans and all of a sudden…" Emily trails off her sentence as she hears a faint noise in the distance, stopping in her tracks. Alison looking out into the distance, trying to see what Emily sees, stops as well.

"Do you hear that?" Emily asks still listening to the sound.

Alison waits a second before responding, "Sounds like music."

Emily shakes her finger in the air, "I know that song….I know it. It…it sounds like a street performance." Emily looks at Alison which an animated look, "Follow me!"

Sounding like it's coming from the center of the park, Emily takes Alison hand and begins to jog in the direction of the music.

"We're running for a street performer?" Alison confusedly ask while jogging besides Emily, quickly becoming tired.

"Yes! Because I think I know who is performing! Or at least know the song they're singing." Emily responds back, jogging effortlessly, still keeping her eyes peeled for a possible crowd. After a running for a short time, Emily slows down as she sees a small crowd around three people, one female singer and two males playing instruments. "Have you ever watched American Horror Story before?" Emily asks Alison as Alison huffs looking up to the sky, trying to catch her breath from the sudden run.

"No… I've never watched it."

Emily gasps in disbelief, "You've _never_ watched it?! We are soooo binging it on Netflix." Emily points to the street performers. "That voice you're hearing is the voice of AHS season four, Freakshow. The song is called Carousel by Melanie Martinez."

Alison looks forward at that the singer and her boy band. "Are they famous or something? I've never heard this song before."

"Well…Kinda I guess. She was on The Voice a year ago and released two very popular songs. Not big enough to pull in a huge stadium crowd but still good music. C'mon." Emily grabs Alison's hand and pulls her closer to the crowd. Staying towards the back, Emily takes Alison's wrist and pulls her to move side to side with the music. Alison looks at Emily with a side grin seeing how joyful she is. _She looks like a child at Santa's workshop, ever so peaceful without worry. _Alison thinks to herself.

"_Round and round like a horse on a carousel, we go. Will I catch up to love? I could never tell." _Emily recites the song lyrics along with the singer with her eyes closed, still holding onto Alison's wrist, swaying side to side. She opens her eyes, fixed on the blonde with a wide smile,

"_I know chasing after you is like a fairytale, but I feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel."_

Emily laughs noticing how silly she looks, singing aloud, swaying Alison side to side with churros in their hands about to fall, but at this moment she doesn't care. Everything is perfect.

…

After about an hour coming and going, wandering around the park, singing along with street performers, buying snacks and sitting on the grass to enjoy the nice cool weather, Emily drives Alison to her apartment and parks at an open spot by the sidewalk. Emily then decides to walk Alison up to her apartment room to make sure that she got in safely.

"Well look at that," Emily looks at her watch, "11:34. Looks like I got you in before your curfew." Emily mocks as she and Alison slowly walk down the hallway, approaching Alison's apartment door. "Hopefully your parents won't mind bringing you home this late." Although coming off as a joke, Emily instantly bites her tongue realizing how insensitive that was.

"Yeah, I might have to sneak through a window to get inside, the door would be too noisy. It'll probably wake them up." Alison plays along, not noticing Emily lack of hesitation.

_Whew._

"I had fun tonight." Alison turns to face Emily as they reach her door. "I haven't had a night like that in a long time. To be so careless and free." Alison sighs, "It's a good change of pace."

"It's refreshing to say the least." Emily laughs as she looks down at her shoes, nodding. "I always have fun with you. Whether it's walking through the park or getting hot sauce in my eye. Everything is an adventure with you."

That last memory of Emily and that hot sauce causes Alison to giggle harder than expected, remembering how funny and horrible that lunch turned out for the both of them. "When you screamed out _'My eye!'_ it reminded me of that one random fish from the SpongeBob Movie that screamed out _'My eyes!"_ when he saw King Neptune's bald head."

Emily bursts out to heavy, loud laughter that forced her to clamp her hand over her mouth to not disrupt the other people on that floor. "Oh my goodness." Emily whispers still laughing. "Or-or that guy who randomly shouts out _'My leg!_' anytime something bad happens."

That makes Alison and Emily laugh even harder, Emily clutching her sides and Alison bending over, gasping for air. Halfway laughing at the joke but also laughing at the fact they're trying to hold in their laughter.

"He could go to the beach, get sand in his eye and he'd still scream out _'My leg!'_" Emily continues, making them both snicker uncontrollably, becoming weak and loud. Alison leans her back against her door, trying to make herself stop laughing but it only makes her laugh even more.

"That's what you should do from now on…" Alison says trying to breathe, "Anytime you injure any part of your body, scream out _'My eye!'_"

"I can't breathe!" The only words Emily can utter out with an actual tear coming out of her eye. After a few more moments of giggling, the laughter finally subdues.

"Thanks…for everything." Alison appreciates as Emily stands up right, herself fully gathered.

"You're welcome." Emily smiles. She steps to Alison and gives her a tight hug slowly rubbing her back. The two embrace for a few seconds, but to Alison that hug could have lasted for minutes. The hug was self-assuring and warm, she almost didn't want to let go. Emily gently pulls away from Alison only to lean in and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Alison." Emily gives her a closed mouth smile.

At that moment Alison froze, although keeping her composure of calmness on the outside, she felt like _that_ girl. The girl from the movies, TV shows, and books. After having an amazing night with someone, they take you to your front porch and give you a goodnight kiss that has you fluttering over it all night. She never really liked those types of girls. The ones that sit in class adding names together, doodling aimlessly, just a hopeless romantic. She felt as if they were feeble. But at that moment, in that hallway, with that person, Alison became _that _girl.

As Emily's body turns to turn the opposite direction, Alison pulls Emily back and connects their lips together. Not deepening it or becoming overly sensual, they stand there, Alison's hands placed lightly on Emily face. After a few brief seconds, Alison separates her lips from Emily's and puts her hands by her side. Being so close together, Alison hesitates to look into Emily's surprised but wanting eyes. "Goodnight, Emily". She whispers as her eyes slowly trails up to the brunette's. She turns around to unlock her door; Emily looking down, smiling to herself at what just occurred. When Alison opens her apartment, she steps inside and stands behind her door with her hands holding the frame. "Goodnight." She repeats again.

Emily nods, "Goodnight, Ali." She holds her eye contact with Alison for a moment, before Alison puts her head down and slowly closes her door.

On the other side, Alison leans her back against the door with her hand on her mouth and chin, taking in everything that just happened. She drops her hands by her side as leans her head onto the door, blinking into the darkness of her apartment.

Emily stands in front of Alison's door, staring at it as if she knew Alison was standing right behind it. She bites the corner of her bottom lip as she stuffs her hands in her front pockets. Still standing there as if she's waiting for Alison to open the door, Emily takes in everything that just happened. She looks down for a moment before she turns around, making her way out of Alison's apartment.

**Ooooooooh! Uh oh! What's that we're feeling?**

***Peers through a telescope like a pirate* Oye, matey! Looks like I see a ship beginning to set sail in thee distance!**


	15. Chapter 15: Pretty Little Liar

**Hello, my beautiful people. My apologies making you guys waaaaait for an update. But good news, I've been writing, writing, writing. (And **_**not**_** binging on Orange Is the New Black. *Looks around nervously*) Not only for this story and my Sparia story but a few weeks ago I've been bitten by the inspiration bug and have been writing a few chapters of two new stories. Emison, of course. Be on the lookout. One day you might just see a brand new story released.**

CHAPTER #15: Pretty Little Liar

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Emily leaves her last class of the day and begins to walk out into the parking lot. With the sun rays beaming and the air a little bit warmer, it's almost starting to feel like how spring should feel. Halfway through the lot, Emily pulls out her phone from her back pocket. She gleefully goes to the dial screen and gracefully runs her fingers across, knowing Alison's number by heart. As she puts the phone to her ear, she smiles with every ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Alison!" The words fly out of Emily's wide smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Just left classes not too long ago."

"That's perfect because I was _wondering _if you wanted to come swing by my place? I have no work today and maybe we could start that American Horror Story binging I told you we were gonna do. It has four seasons so we might want to start right away."

"Uhmm, I'm sorry but right now I can't. Amy got me earlier and is forcing me to go shopping with her to look for an outfit for a function she's going to. I guess she sees me as the run-to fashion expert because she's not letting me out of this one."

Emily unlocks her car door with a press of a button, "Oh, ok." She responds with a little disappointment. "Well, maybe when you get back from that?"

"Yeah, sure. After the shopping, I'll head over to your place and we can watch that scary show."

"It's not even scary!" Emily laughs as she starts her car, "It's gory and sometimes sad but not scary. But alright then, I'll see you later."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye." Emily ends the call and brings the corner of the phone to her chin, tapping it a few times. "I guess I'll go to the gym today."

Alison lets out a deep sigh as she sits in a parking lot. With her hand gripped tightly on the steering wheel, she takes her key out of the ignition. Looking straight ahead, she lets out a few more deep breaths then opens her car door.

…

"Hello, Alison. It's nice to see you." A firm handshake is exchanged and the door is closed behind them.

Alison gives a tight lipped smile as she walks over to the large white three seat sofa as the older woman walks over to her white leather chair with a notepad in hand.

"How are you today?" She asks as she crosses her legs at her ankles, fixing her black mid-thigh skirt.

"I'm good. Feeling better lately." Alison interlaces her fingers as they rest on her thigh.

"That's great to hear! Would you say the Lexapro is working for you?"

"Yeah." Alison nods her head, sweeping over the woman's look. Looking about in her early 40's, her medium toned body leaned in towards Alison. Wearing a white, halfway buttoned blouse rolled up her forearms and a black mini skirt. Her long light red brown hair waves to the front of her as she looks down at her note pad. "I like it better than the other one."

"That's great, Alison." Dr. Elliott lifts her head up to meet Alison's eyes. "Have you done anything fun lately or is school and work taking up much of your time?"

"Well, yeah. School and work take up about 90% of my time…" Alison nods as she looks down at the hard wood floor. She pauses for a moment which the therapist picks up on, allowing Alison that moment. "Do you remember Emily? The girl I told you about some time ago."

"Emily the swimmer, yes." Dr. Elliott recalls as she lays the notepad down. "The girl that had a championship swim meet that you went to in Virginia."

"I've been seeing her more lately."

The therapist gives an approving nod, "You're enjoy her company?"

"Yeah, but it hasn't been all the time, though. Before last week, we would see each other whenever. But, for the whole week last week, we were together almost all of the time. Breakfast runs before work, lunches during work, and whatever little time after work." Alison slightly chuckles to herself, turning her head to the side, realizing how often she and Emily spent time together, "Just of lately, all the time."

"Does she know about-"

"No." Alison cuts her off affirmatively. "…She doesn't."

"Do you plan on telling her?"

"No. I mean, she knows that my mother died and how Jason is. She lived there, everyone knows. She knows I can be pessimistic sometimes but…no. I don't."

Dr. Elliott leans back into her chair as she observes Alison, "Why not?"

"No matter what happens, no matter what we're going through, one thing always remains the same. We don't share our business with anyone." Alison crosses her arms out in front of her, "That's what DiLaurentis' do. We never show weakness."

"You see what you just did there?" Dr. Elliott points her pen at Alison. "You crossed your arms. Before you had your arms below level and when we walked about Emily, you smiled a little. But the moment you talk about your family and your inner-you, you raise them in a defensive manor." Alison looks down at her arms for a brief moment. "You're not forced to talk about things you're not comfortable with, Alison, but if you want to build a friendship, a relationship, with anyone, it's best to let them in so they know how to help you when you need it."

Alison faintly shakes her head as she looks in another direction away from Dr. Elliot's concentrated eyes. "I just want everything behind me. I just wa-..." Alison stops abruptly, pushing her jaw out to the side. "…I just want to be renewed."

The therapist tilts her head, "Does Emily know where you are right now?"

"Yup."

"Where?"

"Somewhere shopping with Amy." Alison looks directly back at Dr. Elliott.

"But you're not."

"To her…That's where I am right now. And that's all she needs to know." Alison challenges.

Dr. Elliott sucks in a cheek as she nods, "Where exactly do you want your relationship with Emily to go, Alison?"

…

With sweat dripping off her face and rolling off her shoulders, Emily walks down the hallway towards her apartment. After Alison decided to go shopping, Emily went to the gym down the street from her; _Sweat Gym, _which pretty much lives up to their name. Unlocking her door, her achy body walks through to be greeted with hot air. Emily wipes the hair sticking to her face as she walks over to her fridge to get a bottle of ice cold water, the liquid flowing nicely down her dry throat. As she polishes off 85% of the bottle, she walks over towards her living room where the thermostat is. Wiping the sweat from her eyes, Emily is immediately taken aback by the temperature of her apartment.

"91ºF?!" she checks to make sure she didn't accidently leave the heat on and raised the temperature. Very much to her dismay, the thermostat is on cool and still has reached 91 degrees in her apartment. Emily immediately grabs her cell from her pocket and dials the front desk.

…

"So we're going to have to order that part." The man sent from the front desk alerts Emily as he write something down on a form.

"Ok, so when will that part come in?" Emily asks worriedly as she puts her hands on her hips.

"Most likely Wednesday since we don't have it in stock. We'll have to order it from Indiana. From then we'll set up a time to put it in." The man clicks his pen and places it onto her shirt pocket.

Emily's eyes widen in disbelief, "B-but its Monday. You're telling me I have to live in this heat for two days?"

"Best advice I have for you at this moment is to use a fan to cool yourself in the meantime. We can't do anything else without that part, ma'am."

Emily shakes her head, wiping her forehead with her arm as she walks with the man towards the door, "Please try to get it as soon as you can. I'd very much appreciate it."

"I will try my best." He opens the door before turning back to Emily, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Ms. Fields."

Emily gives a half smile as he leaves her apartment, closing the door behind him. Emily leans against the closed door, putting her hands above her head, "91 fucking degrees."

….

Alison approaches Emily's apartment door and gives a few knocks. Allowing her mind to reminisce her time in Dr. Elliot's office, she thinks about what she said. Alison fixes her hair, making sure it's up to par while she waits for a moment. Mid-thought, the door flies open.

"Alison!" Emily huffs out her name.

Alison immediately looks down at Emily's attire: black sports bra and black and white Nike track shorts with her body glistening in sweat. "Did you just come from the gym?" Alison asks a bit perplexed.

"No." Emily slicks her hair back, "I've been home for a while now."

Still confused, Alison continues on, "Oh…Well… I came over to watch the show you wanted to binge earlier."

"Great! Let's go to your apartment!"

…

Alison unlocks her apartment door, Emily following behind her.

"Yes!" She stresses her arms out beside her with her eyes closed, "I can feel the air! The _cold, brisk_ air! Air that I love so much!"

Alison smirks as she walks through, straight to her bedroom/living room. Emily opens her eyes as she scans Alison's living space. Immediately upon opening the door, you're walking into a small kitchen with a bar and a half wall separating the kitchen and the bedroom. You walk a few steps and you approach one step going down into the bedroom. On the far left side, there is a queen size bed with a night stand on the right side and a dresser to match on the wall. On both sides of the bed there is a door. On the left side of the bed, there is a door that leads to the bathroom and the right leads to a closet. Although the place was a decent size for a studio, what really makes it pop is Alison's touch of accessories, furniture and color scheme: White and black. White walls with designs and portraits hanging from them within black frames. Black queen bed with white pillows. Black sofa with white cushions. Black electronics on white glass. Black rug with white curtains covering the four side by side windows that take up the whole back wall, looking into the direction of Emily's apartment. Small but comfortable.

"Wow. Nice place."

"It's nothing compared to yours." Alison tosses her keys on the round glass table in front of her sofa. "This is all I got. One whole open space to live in. I've could of gone bigger but it's unnecessary." Alison takes of her leather jacket as she walks to the closet to hang it up.

"But I like it. Everything is so sleek and clean. This could be in an interior design magazine the way it looks."

"Thanks."

"So…How was shopping with Amy?" Emily walks over to the black loveseat sofa and takes a seat.

"It was good." Alison emerges from the walk-in closet. "We went to different outlets to see what we can manage. We ended up finding something cute, ate something quick and went our separate ways where now…" Alison flicks her wrist at Emily, "I'm looking at you on my couch."

Emily smiles a big smile as she leans back into the soft loveseat. "You have Netflix, right?"

"But of course."

"Good." Emily pats the seating besides her, "Come on over and let's get started." Alison strolls towards Emily, grabs the remote from the table in front of them and gives it to her as she sits.

"It has four seasons." Emily powers on the TV and goes to the Netflix app. "1st one is called _Murder house. _The best character wise. 2nd is called _Asylum. _The best season but also the darkest. 3rd is _Coven. _It's ok but wasn't really feeling it that much. And the 4th one is called _Freak Show_."

"I've heard of Freak Show." Alison states as she remembers all the promotion and hype for the upcoming season of the show.

"Yeah, Freak Show is awesome for the characters and set up wise but was the most disappointing in my opinion." Emily types in American Horror Story into the search bar.

"So, I don't get it. Each season something bad happens to the characters? They have a murder house then go to an asylum then a freak show?" Alison asks, "So, they have an infinite amount of bad luck?"

Emily laughs as she turns to face Alison, "No. Each season is a different set of characters with a different scenario. That's the beauty of it. Same actors playing different people each season. That means you can watch the show in any which way order without feeling left out. So you could watch the 2nd season first then the 4th then 1st then 3rd. You'll still be in sync with everyone else when you're done."

Alison impressively nods her head as she purses her lips, "Sounds good."

Emily smiles again before she looks back at the TV. "Alright. Season 1, Muuuuurder House."

"**You want to change and leave everything behind but how can you do that if you still allow yourself to lie?"**

**Alison shrugs sympathetically, "I was raised a pretty little liar and….I ended up mastering it."**

X

**A pretty little liar, huh? You know what they say about them…**

**Shout out to Emily's "house with no heat" storyline being inspired by my life. I currently am sitting in my room that is 92 degrees as I write this. Waiting for the workers to come by and do their jobs since I've been living like this for almost a week now. I'm totally not upset or anything.**

**Someone PM'ed me asking for a fancast to envision the characters in this story a little better. Kind of like how they do in Wattpad, who do the characters resemble. **

**Here you guys go! (Imagine everyone about 21-24.)**

_**Emily's Side:**_

**Emily Fields: Shay Mitchell**

**Jack: ****Stephen James (Pre-chest tattoo)**

**Valerie: Grace Holley **

**Ryan: Daniel Sharman**

**Jacob: Godfrey Gao**

_**Alison's Side:**_

**Alison DiLaurentis: Sasha Pieterse**

**Amy: Amber Heard**

**Miranda: Lindsey Morgan**

**Dr. Elliott: Kate Walsh**

**When more characters develop, I will add on :)**

**Let's see where this Netflix session takes us :D**

**Favorite, follow and revieeeeeeeeew.**


	16. Chapter 16: Confessions of a Fan

**To Mcmeli: **_**Is**_** Emily &amp; Alison going to talk about the kiss? I mean, in the 100****th**** episode, they kissed (and probably did some other things) but they **_**neeeeever **_**talked about that ;)**

CHAPTER #16: Confessions of a Fan

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

_Hallie talks to Hayden on the phone, her husband's mistress, while looking in her bathroom mirror, the steam of her running hot bath running in the background. "Because it never happens that way, it never does." Hallie shakes her head, trying to be tranquil as she attempts to reason with the young and foolish girl. "'Cause what he's looking for has nothing to do with you. It's got nothing to do with anybody. There's something missing in _him_."_

_Hayden soft and gentle voice flows from the other side of the phone call, "He found something in me he'll_ never _find in you again. He said my face was_ soft…_like a baby, and between my thighs, I tasted like_ raspberries and cream_." She taunts_.

_The calm demeanor instantly is overshadowed by rage as Hallie spins away from the mirror, "You know what I_ really _regret?! When I walked in on you screwing my husband?!" Hallie's forehead vein beginning to become prominent as her voice booms. "Was that I didn't just RIP your _smug _little face off!"  
_

"Oh _nooooo_." Alison shakes her head condescendingly as she wags her finger at the TV, "I would have to break a bitch if some chick told me that."

Emily laughs as she reaches for the remote and presses pause. She turns her body to face Alison, pulling her feet into her, "You would fight a girl?" She asks with amusement in her tone.

"I wouldn't fight a girl because she was the '_other girl'_." Alison explains as she opens up a bag of Funyuns, "That's so stupid. If that person I'm with cheats on me, good fucking bye!" Alison waves her hand in the air, "I wouldn't even waste my time. _But! _If the other girl has the _balls_ to call _my_ phone and try to tell _me_ all about their sexual moments together, that's a whole different story." Alison grabs a couple rings and eats them.

"Oh," Emily leans in closer like a child being told a funny and exhilarating story for the first time. "Please do tell."

"I would beat a bitch!" Alison laughs as she rises her shoulders in the air with her palms outstretched, "What else is there to do? You disrespect my space, I disrespect your face." Alison eats another ring, "Good vibes all around."

Emily props her elbow on the back cushion of the sofa as she smirks, eyeing the blonde "I don't see you as the fighting type. I mean, _verbally_? Yes. _Physically_? No."

"Don't act like you wouldn't do the same if the situation was presented to you."

"Oh no." Emily leans off the sofa, putting her hands up in a surrendering gesture, "I am the jealous type. I won't even pretend or hide it." Emily shakes her head, "I don't do well with competition. Not in the _water_ or on land." She catches Alison's gaze before the blonde turns away.

"Jealous Emily…" Alison looks into her bag and reaches for another ring, "Who would of known."

Emily looks down nervously as she contemplates her next words. She takes a deep breath, "Last night…that kiss…"

Alison stops digging inside of her bag but doesn't raise her head. Her ears perk up as she carefully listen to whatever Emily is about to say.

"I don't know about you but…I…I felt something inside of the kiss-inside of that hug and…" Emily searches for the words as she looks at her hands, as if words would magically appear on them, directing her what to say. "And I wanted to know-" Emily looks over at Alison who is still looking down, "I _need_ to know if you felt that too."

Alison slowly rises her head, meeting Emily's needing eyes. The entire vibe of the room changed. A few seconds ago they were laughing about jealousy and fighting others and now it has turned into this…honesty hour. Something Alison isn't 100% sure she wants to jump into at the moment. Her quietness causes Emily to speak out once more.

"Did you feel anything, Alison?" She pushes again, not liking the silence or the hesitation plastered on Alison's face. "Or is this just all in my head because before we continue anything else, I need to know where we stand."

Alison eyes drift away, "I've never been _that _girl. That girl who's stomach does back flips upon the mere mention of someone's name. That's not me, that's just not who I am."

Feeling like she just got back handed in the face with rings on, Emily clenches her jaw, not wanting to hear anything else. _Why did I even bring it up? Why couldn't I just have left it alone? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I just killed this entire moment and now it's going to be awkward. FUCK. _Her thoughts races 200 miles a minute.

"But that hug you gave me literally changed my emotions, my thoughts, the air…" Alison nervously begins to wring her wrists as she takes in a deep breath, still not making eye contact with Emily. "That's why I kissed you. And from that moment…that entire night…I was thinking _that _girl's thoughts." Alison look up at Emily who is looking down at her with uncertainty, still waiting for Alison to say the words she wants to hear. "So yes…I did feel something. I-I don't know where we stand but I don't mind standing next to you."

A smile creeps onto Emily's face faster than she could control. Feeling the overwhelming sensation of excitement buzzes up Emily's body, racing up from her feet to the top of her head, she reaches for Alison's hand. Spilling her raw feelings for the first time to Emily, Alison gazes down at Emily's hand as she interlaces her fingers with the brunette. Emily's hands feeling so warm and soft, rubbing her thumb on top of Alison's, causes her to smile to herself as well.

Alison has had share of people she's been with in the past. However, what they all have in common is that she didn't have any real emotions for any of them. They were equivalent to getting a new pair of shoes or earrings; you like them because they look good but are very easily replaceable. But Emily…she's different. She's not sure how different but she feels it within: She's different.

As Alison smiles to herself, looking at their fingers, Emily leans in for a millisecond before immediately pulling back. She felt like she wanted to kiss Alison. Not like how they did during their fatal night. Not like how they did last night in front of Alison's door. She wanted to actually kiss Alison in a way that she has never been kissed before. She wanted to hold her face, look into her electric blue eyes and stop time with her, only allowing them two to matter in this world. And with that lean in, Emily almost did. Now, Emily has had her share of people she's been with as well. Some were mere crushes, one was involuntary, and two were real passion but with Alison, she's always had that sense of curiosity with her. Even when she was in a relationship and cared very much about her girlfriend, if Alison acknowledged her, she would be thinking about it non-stop. In addition to actually being with her, right now, is like magic. _So maybe I shouldn't kiss her. No….Not quite yet._

"You know how when someone begins to start liking a band," Emily starts off, "They listen to all of their music and visit their concerts and then when they actually meet them, it's like so surreal? Like you don't believe that it actually happened?" Emily asks.

Alison looks up at Emily as she nods her head in agreeance. "Yeah."

"That's how I feel _right now_." Emily points her finger down with her free hand, "Like everything is surreal."

"Like a celebrity and a fan?" Alison questions with her mouth parted slightly, cocking her head to the side.

Emily laughs as she runs her hand through her hair, looking up to the ceiling, "This might sound odd but yes." They both chuckle as Emily returns her eyes back to Alison, "Back then, you were like a celebrity to me. Or more like a very popular person. I mean, everyone was always following you around, trying to be on your good graces, basically doing anything you say. So much _control_." The smile lingering on Alison's face slowly fades as she listens on, remembering exactly the feeling Emily is expressing. "With so much _power_…you always was nice to me. And that…that made me feel like how a celebrity would be around tons of screaming fans and they would walk up to one insignificant person and make them feel like they're the only one in the entire area; with their attentiveness and words, making them feel substantial." Emily puts her other hand below hers and Alison's entangled fingers, peering deep into Alison's eyes, "That was you to me. You were like my celebrity."

Alison, stunned speechless, stares at Emily with astonished eyes as her breathing slows down in her chest.

_Knock, knock, knock!_

Before becoming even more lost in translation, Alison looks towards the door.

"Must be the pizza boy." Emily forces a smile before she mutters to herself, "Right on cue."

Alison gets up from the couch, leaving Emily's warm hands and walks over to her purse hanging on the closet door. She pulls out her wallet and grabs a twenty before she strides herself to the door.

…..

After a few more hours of binge watching, eating pizza, and not talking about their conversation prior to the delivery, Emily looks at her phone's lock screen. _9:48pm. _Nearing the credits of the last episode of AHS season 1, Emily mentally prepares to get ready to leave. Even though she doesn't have classes tomorrow, she has the opening shift at work and she doesn't want to over stay her welcome.

Alison being inside of her kitchen, she poured herself a glass of fruit punch with her left palm holding her Lexapro pill. Making sure Emily doesn't turn her direction, she waits to pop the pill in her mouth when Emily checks her phone for the time. When she takes a gulp of her drink to swallow the medication, Emily stands up and starts rounding up her things.

"Where are you going?" Alison sets her glass on the counter.

"Uhm…" Emily awkwardly looks down at her things, "It's getting late and I thought it'll be best for me to return home, you know, since I have work in the morning."

Alison bites the inside of her bottom lip as she crosses her arms, "You're apartment…It's like a living sauna. Maybe…" Alison pauses for a moment as Emily stops moving, waiting for her to continue. "Maybe you would want to stay here? I mean, I have A/C." Alison nervously lets out a laugh. "Besides your shift isn't until 10 so…" Alison extends her hand at her bed, "You have a spot here if you don't want to crisp over the night. I'll take the couch"

Emily tries to stop her overflow of happiness as she looks at Alison's bed. Her face instantly changes, "I would never kick you out of your bed." Emily hastily shakes her head. "This is your place, I'll have the couch."

Alison walks from out the kitchen and stands before the step to the level Emily's on, "Exactly. This is my place and you're the guest. You take the bed."

"No, its OK, Alison."

"I remember a certain someone saying a few words," Alison looks down as she steps below to the lower level. "When people come into my home, they get the best I could offer." Alison slowly walks towards Emily until she's in front of her. "Don't fight it. I'm on the couch, you're on the bed," Alison and Emily's eyes playing a game of back and forth as they stand in the middle of the apartment, looking straight into each other.

Emily looks down smiling and nods, "With all due respect, Ms. DiLaurentis, I'm on the couch."

Alison places her tongue in her cheek as she smirks at Emily, finding it amusing that the brunette seems to be challenging her. "Well, the couch is not big enough for both of us to sleep on." Alison pushes back.

"I'll curl up, that way, I won't take that much space." Emily exhorts not backing down from the game. Someone has to lose.

Alison arches her eyebrows "Aren't fans supposed to take the suggestions of their favorite celebrities?"

Emily laughs as she shakes her head, "I should have never told you that."

"I kick in my sleep." Alison tilts her head up with a smug expression, "With a love-seat that size, you'll be taking some pretty heavy duty jerks."

Emily returns the expression, "I'll deflect them."

"While you're sleeping?"

"I can multi-task."

"Why are you making this difficult? Just take the damn bed."

"I don't want the damn bed."

Alison sighs as she turned her head to one side but kept her eyes on her. "….Looks like we're both sharing the couch."

"Looks like we are." Emily smirks back at Alison, rocking on her heels with her hands in her pockets.

**Looks like we're progressing! The engine on the train is slowly picking up steam. Before we know it, the train will be chugging at full speed. **

**What was your favorite part of this chapter? Or better yet, what's your favorite line?**

**I'll tell you mines. My favorite line was when Alison says, **_**"**__**I don't know where we stand but I don't mind standing next to you."**_** When I wrote that, I felt like high fiving myself. That was a killer line for me haha :D **

**Looks like Alison isn't holding back all of her emotions. Finally, they have a sure understanding of things. Now, from here on out, the main concern is how much more will come out of these two? **

**Will they decide to try dating or continue taking it slow?**

**Will Alison be honest about everything or will she continue her "DiLaurentis ideology"?**

**Will they tell anyone or will they keep it to themselves?**

**Will Lorenzo leave Alison alone because he's clearly a pedophile and is cringing to look at?**

**Will Emily not become attached to Sara because she doesn't even **_**know her?**_

**Is Charles DiLaurentis really dead?**

**Check out the next chapter coming up next on Disney Channel :) **


	17. Chapter 17: Field of Comfort

**:O Your beloved chapter is here!**

**Taking on the task of writing three fics at one time is kind of hard but I like the challenge! #LifeLiveOnTheWildSide. But what I'm going to do is to update all three at the same time or around same time frame that way I don't go overboard and constantly update one story and lack on the others. **

**So, this way you'll be getting angst, fluff, and comedy all at the same time. :D Great emotions to feel.**

**And to my dedicated reader, Drea, I PM'd you back not sure if you got it but YOUR REVIEW WAS HEAVEN SENT. When I got the notification and saw the length of it, I was literally fist pumping in the air. Please don't go back to normal length reviews because that was perfect haha. Seriously, thank you for taking time out to be so in depth with detail. I'm pretty sure what you did was every writer's dream because it sure is mines! Go you little Rockstar, you :")**

CHAPTER #17: Field of Comfort

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Putting down a blanket on the couch, Emily gets comfortable on the left side of the couch as Alison takes the right. Being that it _was_ a loveseat, the two's legs lie right beside each other as their upper half take either side of the sofa. Deciding not to watch anymore AHS, the girls lay in the silent faint lighted room.

"I'm going to ask you a question," Emily stats off, breaking the silence, "And you tell me if you would press that button, ok?"

"Ok…?" Alison amusedly answers as she agrees to play another one of Emily's games.

"Alright." Emily pulls out her phone and begins the round of questions generated from a site.

"You win one billion dollars in the lottery _but _you have to live in Sweden." She reads the question, "Would you press the button?"

"Uhm duh! A billion dollars is a _billion dollars_." Alison responds on beat, "Besides Sweden is _beautiful_ but, whenever I get bored, I'll just be a frequent flyer."

"Ok, Ok. 85% of people agree with you." Emily smiles as she begins to read the next question. "Ok. This one is good." She laughs. "You can experience the feeling of an orgasm whenever you want _but _you can never have sex."

Alison laughs at the question as Emily eagerly awaits her answer. "No…No I would not push that button."

Emily giggles on her side of the couch, "Why not?"

"Because if I wanted to "orgasm whenever I wanted", I would just masturbate."

Emily loudly gasps as she puts the phone to her mouth, in pure shock of Alison's response, laughing even harder.

"What?" Alison shrugs. "It's the truth!"

"Nothing." She waves her hand in the air, catching her breath. "I just didn't expect you to say that." Emily brings her phone to her face to read the results of the other people, "72% of people would not push the button neither."

"Exactly? Wouldn't you not push the button?"

"Nooooo! This isn't about me." Emily quickly deflects the trap door. "Alright, next one." Emily skim reads the question, laughing to herself again, "Ok, what about this one? You can sleep with the man/woman of your dreams _but _the entire sexual encounter is narrated by Morgan Freeman."

"Oh _God_," Alison groans as she lays her cheek on the armrest. "Hell no. That's would turn me off so quickly."

"Yeah…...That's definitely more like a traumatizing experience." Emily adds in her two cents. "Alright so, you get the ability to fly _but_ you grow hideous wings that cannot be hidden, most people will see them and hail you a demon."

Alison scrunches up her face, "Uhm no. I'll walk." She answers apathetically, "I'm not going to fly just for people to burn me at the stake."

With every answer Alison gives, it tickles Emily inside. Maybe its the way she saying it but every answer to her question makes Emily laugh harder than normal.

…..

"All the people of every nation, race, and belief, will unite and create complete harmony _but _the internet will be removed forever._"_

"Nooooo." Alison laughs as she drags out her answer.

Emily laughs along with Alison, surprised at the quick answer without hesitation. "Why not?"

"I would avoid that button like the _black plague_. I'm sorry. Not worth it. I need my internet connection."

"Glad to see where our priorities are at, Alison." Emily taunts the blonde as she playfully nudges her foot against the blonde's leg.

….

After asking rounds of questions, listening and laughing at Alison's answers, she presses next and gets a question that instantly makes her blush. _Should I ask this? No. No, I'm going to skip it…..No I should ask. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Noooo. It might make things awkward._

_Skip. _

_No Ask. _

_No Skip. _

_No Ask._

_Skiiiiip!_

_Aaaaaask!_

"What's the next question?" Alison asks, breaking Emily's dire mental debate.

"I'm not sure about this one…"

"You might as well read it now that you said it." Alison pushes. "Read it."

Emily sighs as she reads the next question, "You can have the best romance of your life with the addition of great sex…"

"Ok…"

"_But…._It has to be with the person in the closest proximity to you right now_…._Would you push the button?_"_

Alison raises her eyebrow at Emily in the dark. "Does it really ask that?"

"Yep. Look…" Defending herself, Emily sits up and leans over to Alison's side, showing her the phone.

Alison checks the phone and it does in fact ask the question.

"_You can have the best romance of your life with the addition of great sex but it has to be with the person in the closest proximity to you right now."_

Alison rests her head on the arm rest cushion and looks out towards her bed.

_Utter silence._

_Chirp Chirp._

"But, ah, what do you expect?" Emily forces a laugh through the uncomfortable stillness from the blonde, "People and their questions. _So_ stupid." She taps on her phone to exit out the web browser. "But it's starting to get late for a game now…"

_Silence._

"Do we have extra pizza?' Emily pinches herself, causing yet _another _awkward moment.

…

**Walking through her house, Alison wonders into the living room where she see's everyone occupying their own thing. Jason is sitting on the couch on his phone, Kenneth is sitting at his chair reading the local newspaper and Jessica was standing by the window talking to someone on the phone. Alison slowly walks through the living area, nobody really paying her any mind. **

"**Jason," Alison's mother puts her hand over the phone's speaker as she address her son.**

"**Yeah?"**

"**You know we have to go to the ceremony, later. Please, do something and fix your hair."**

**Jason groans and lifts himself of the couch, walking past Alison. Confused at what's going on, Alison watches Jason brush past her without saying anything. Seeing her dysfunctional family together for the first time in a very long time, at that moment, Alison cannot separate if this is a reality or a dream. **

_**Was everything before a dream?**_

_**Is this my actual life right now?**_

"**Hey, dad." Jason nods his head at his father, "Do you know where the belt-sander is?"**

"**Why?"**

"**I'm going to shape up my hair a little bit," Jason runs his hand through his mane. "Probably shave as well."**

"**It should be in the garage." Kenneth raises his newspaper towards the garage which sends Jason on his way. **

**Alison glances back to her mother who had just finished her phone call as she turns to her. "I'm glad you decided to grace us with your presence, Alison." She sarcastically welcomes the blonde.**

"**What are you talking about?"**

"**You've been asleep in your room for practically the entire day. You and your brother know we have to go to the banquet early tonight but you guys **_**refuse**_** to get ready."**

**Walking towards her mother, looking directly in to her eyes, Jessica looks back at her waiting for Alison to say something.**

**"…Mom?" Alison's eyes begin to water, a smile slowly spreading across her face as the overwhelming feeling of happiness waves through her body. "Mom."**

**A few seconds later, a deep red mist starts spraying from the vents in the ceiling, followed by blood soaking and spewing through the roof creating a line that appears to be coming from the garage. Kenneth, Jessica and Alison dash to the garage just at the same moment to see Jason, whose head had gotten caught in the belt sander and most of his face sanded off, get heaved forcefully sideways by the sander into the handsaw. Within seconds he is violently decapitated.**

"_**JASON NOOOOOOO**_**!" **

"_**OH MY GOD**_**!" Alison shrieks out, immediately holding onto her mother. The sound of the bones being mashed into dust created the most vile sounding noise that will forever be seared into Alison's head. **

**His body kept upright, stiffly twitching, as his neck and arm stump squirted blood and sanded his remaining face bits into the dust collection system which had been distributing the gore into the rest of the house's ventilation.**

**Kenneth runs into the massacre remainders of his son as he tries to unplug the equipment.. After a few moments, Jason's guillotined body leans and falls over, twitching on the bloody floor of his remains.**

"**OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" Alison forces her face into her mother's chest as she trembles, shielding herself from the gory sight. **

"**Oh my god, Jason!" She whimpers to herself, "Jason, Jason, what the hell?!" When Alison looks up at her mother, the sight she saw instantly causes to let go and scurry backwards, slipping onto the blood of her brother. Her heart begins beating at such a rapid speed, it felt like it was going to burst out of chest.**

"_**NONONONONONONONONONONONO!**_**"**

Alison shoots open her eyes as she tries to catch her irregular breathing, darting her eyes furiously across her dark apartment. In a cold sweat, she quickly casts a glance to see Emily laying sound asleep on the opposite side of the couch. With confusion leaving and fear/paranoia setting in its place, poisoning her mind and thoughts, Alison scans the entire apartment in front of her every few seconds just to make sure that nothing is there.

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

Doing her third round of skimming, Alison starts feeling ill. Not how you feel when you ate a bad order of Chinese or when you eat too much sweets, but physically weak. As if trying to lift yourself, an arm or a leg is too energy consuming.

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

A rush of uneasiness passes through Alison's body, causing the blonde to become frantic. Although it's just her and Emily in the apartment, she feels the presence of another being. The presence of an evil, unsettling spirit. Still laying down, she peers at Emily, still sound asleep. She softly nudges the brunette with her foot.

"Emily…" An inaudible voice escapes her throat, too weak to wake her. She tries to use more force but the more she speaks out, the lower her voice becomes.

"Emily."

….

"Emily…"

….

"….Emily…."

She prods Emily a bit harder but she doesn't bulge.

Doesn't even move.

She lays still as a board.

Feeling the presence becoming gradually prominent, the sting of her tears and excel of her terror kicks in at full force.

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

_Door._

_Kitchen._

_Bathroom._

_Bedroom._

_Closet._

_Living Room._

_Bathroom._

_Kitchen._

_Living Room._

_Door._

_Closet._

_Emily._

_Kitchen._

_Emily._

_Door._

_Emily._

_Bedroom._

_Emily._

_Door._

_Emily._

_Closet._

At the exact moment she darts her eyes to her semi open closet door, she instantly freezes with widen petrified eyes. Paralyzed with fear, she feels all the color and blood drain out of her face.

She locks eyes with a head that is peering around the corner of her door. The head was completely black and by the looks of it, "it" was not human.

Not by a long shot.

Being so terrified, for a split second, Alison thought she was going to pee herself. She tried to break eye contact with the creature but she couldn't move a muscle. It was as if their gazes were locked and she can't pull away. After a few unnerving moments that felt like minutes, it slowly blinks and stepped from behind the closet door.

"Emily…" Alison silently gasps, not making a sound.

As the entity creeps forward, Alison makes another attempt to nudge the sleeping brunette, trying to call for her. However, nothing comes out. All she can do is mouth the words.

"Emily!"

"Emily, get up!"

"Emily, please!"

"_EMILY_!"

The whole body of the dark, wretched figure emerges hunched over as if it couldn't fit inside the closet. When its body is fully exposed, it slowly straightens up, making the most disturbing snapping noises Alison has ever heard. The sounds of bones breaking at loud volume with every moment it makes. When the creature finally stands up straight, it stands at, what Alison seems to be, 7 feet tall. Being emaciated and gangly thin with furry stick like legs ending in cloven hooves with the torso of a man, a wide sinister grin and painfully open wide eyes takes up half of its face with the head titled back slightly.

"_Aliiiiiiiiisoooooon…_" The voice sings out in a gravelly, taunting growl.

Immediately Alison begins to hyperventilate, feeling at any second her heart will give out.

"EM-EM-EM-EM-EMILY!"

It lurches forward with its miniscule pin prick teeth covered in fur and blood and all manner of intestines, "_Aliiiiiiisooooon_…."

Steadily, her panicky words were beginning to form.

"Get out."

"Get out."

"Get out."

Although they were mumbles, with persistence, she was becoming louder and becoming more coherent. As Alison was trying to find her voice, the figure kept repeating her name louder and louder over her with a menacing laugh to it.

"Get out."

"Alllliiisooon!"

"Get out."

"Allllliiiiisooooooon!"

As her 'Get out!' was making progress, she went from mumbling to normal speaking volume, then a shout, when suddenly, the figure appears in front of her face with heat radiating from it.

"_ALISON!"_

Alison shoots her body forward screaming on the top of her lungs.

"Alison!" Emily softly whispers her name. "Alison, it's ok. I'm right here. _I'm right here_." She soothes the kicking and crying blonde out of her nightmare by rubbing her arm. While her breathing being erratic and tears clouding her sights, Alison darts her eyes across the room back and forth, trying look for the monster who was once there.

"Shhhh… It's ok." Emily continues to rub Alison's arm. "I'm here."

As Emily stands up and rushes into the kitchen to get a cup of water, turning on the light to reduce the darkness of the apartment. Alison gains control of her breathing as she becomes fully conscious of her location and that it was just a nightmare. Alison sits up drenched in sweat and fear, breathing in deep, quick breaths as she clutches her chest. Emily walks back to Alison, kneels down in front of her to give her the glass of water. She removes the hair sticking to the frantic blonde's face before she cups her face with her hand, using her thumb to rub her cheek.

"What's wrong? What happened?" She calmly asks.

Alison's whole body trembles, unable to speak. Unable to convey the nightmare she just experience. The nightmare and the nightmare with the nightmare. Her mind is consumed with the images, the sounds, the voices, the darkness, and her fears out in front of her to torment her.

As Alison shakes her head, Emily nods hers trying to understand. "Here. Come here." Emily stands up holding Alison's hand and leads her to the queen bed on the other side of the room.

"Nononononono!" Alison desperately pulls back from Emily's grasps like a child refusing to go to the dentists as her throat tightens. Her legs wobble as she stumbles back into the couch. Emily immediately scrams back to her aid.

"Nonononoicanticanticant" Alison's words jumble together. "The-the-the-the closet." She shakily points to the door. Emily concernedly follows her direction before she looks back.

"What's wrong with the closet?"

"A-a-a-a-a-a-a d-d-d-d-d-demon!" She chokes out, trying to find her voice. "A demon-a demon is in there."

Emily stands and proceeds to walks towards the closet when Alison pulls her back by her arm.

"Y-y-you can't go in there!"

"I'm going to check it out," Emily assures her. "It's going to be ok." Emily walks away from the couch and cautiously steps towards the closet. Once behind the door, she quickly pulls it open to find nothing there.

"See?" Emily points to the empty closet, "It was just a bad dream, nothing is there." She gestures Alison over to the bed who is hesitating.

Sleeping on that crammed couch with another body won't do any good. At this moment, the whole couch debate flew out the window as soon as Alison's mental health came into play. She assists Alison into the sheets of the left side of the bed next to the bathroom as she takes the right side with the closet. Emily scoots in tight and close so both she and Alison are facing each other with the kitchen light illuminating the background.

…

"I don't know. Everything just turned red." Alison whispered with an extremely hoarse voice. "Then…then I woke up. You were lying right next to me but you wouldn't get up." Alison feels the back of her throat tighten once again as the tears stated to well up in her eyes again, "You wouldn't get up…. I was trying to call your name and you-you wouldn't get up…"

Emily wipes the streaming tears away as she tries her best to pacify the trembling blonde. "No…" She softly whispers. "No, Alison. That was just a dream. I woke up the moment you starting talking out loud. You were mumbling my name and kicking me. I was trying to wake you up from the dream."

"I don't want to go back." Alison hastily shakes her head. "I-I-I don't want to see it again."

"You won't." Emily assures her as she reaches for Alison's hand. "I'm going to be right here with you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Alison gazes into Emily's eyes as she feels a vast sensation of serenity. Even though she knows Emily will be there for her, hearing her saying it feels like a warm, big hug. Their body language, face to face, hand in hand, Emily soothes her like a mother soothing their child or a lover caressing their partner. Alison has never experienced that from anyone outside their family or really inside for that matter. Although Alison relaxes into her, she doesn't know how to react to it. She's so used to having people out of her comfort zone, not allowing them in. However, since Emily is here, she has no choice. "Thank you, Emily."

"You don't have to thank me." She continues to brush her thumb aganist's Alison's cheek. "Whenever you need me, I'm always going to be here for you."

Alison nuzzles her face into Emily's warm hand feeling calmer and calmer with ever second passing by.

"It's my fault," Emily shakes her head. "I made you watch American Horror Story knowing that not everyone can handle it." The look of disappointment and regret carries onto Emily's face, "I'm so sorry, Alison."

"No…This wasn't you're fault." Alison responds back.

Even though AHS does have disturbing images and context, the nightmare wasn't Emily's fault. Alison know this. Alison's night terrors aren't something new, unfortunately. After her mother died and her world has gone to shit, she's been having problems sleeping sometimes. However, on her newly prescribed medication, one of the side effects are night terrors. Anytime you mess with the amount of serotonin released in the brain, you get side effects that can include _very _vivid dreams and/or nightmares. Just an additional reason for Alison to get referred to yet another medication.

"You know what keeps me at bay after a bad dream?"

"What?"

"Cartoons." Emily smiles to try to ease Alison, "I would watch something like Rugratz, Fairly Oddparents, Kim Possible…"

"Spongebob?" Alison adds onto Emily's list.

"Yes," She chuckles, "Even Spongebob. Something about cartoons just calm me after scary nights."

Alison eyes drift down to their intertwined hands as her face droops, "I don't want the TV to be on."

"It's ok. We won't need it on. I have a pretty good memory of episodes." Emily assures her, still smiling. "Like for example…." Emily thinks to herself for a brief second before the light in her head turns on. With her hushed voice she widens her eyes.

"You mean you've never heard the story of the… Hash-Slinging Slasher?" she uses her storytelling voice as she imitates Squidward.

"The Slash-Bringing Hasher?" She asks herself in fearful tone as she takes on the role of Spongebob.

"The Hash-Slinging Slasher!"

Emily raises her eyebrow as she looks to the right, trying to comprehend the name, "The Sash Wringing…? The Trash Singing…Mash Flinging…? The Flash Springing…Ringing… The Crash Dinging…_The…_"

"Yes." She lowers her eyelids as she does in her best annoyed Squidward voice, "The Hash-Slinging Slasher."

Alison tries to hold in her laughter as she watches Emily's performance. "I'm not going to ask how you remember that word for word." Alison shakes her head amused.

"_Hey_. I'm an only child so cartoons was what I grew up with." She grins. "I can do more. Watch, this is from a movie. Try to guess this one." Emily prepares herself for her next act.

"My children never caused such trouble," she shakes a fist in the air, "They all became acupuncturists!"

"Well, we can't _all _be acupuncturists." She impatiently responds to herself.

"No!" She softly yells out, "Your great-granddaughter had to be a _cross-dresser_!"

"Uhmmm…?"Alison tries to recall that quote from whatever movie Emily just reenacted by is left stumped. "I have no idea."

"Let's get down to business," Emily sings the catchy tune to recollect the memory in Alison's mind, "To defeat the Huns."

"Mulan?" Alison chuckles.

Emily beams in satisfaction, "Yes! You're such a good guesser." She brushes the hair in front of Alison's face before she begins to gently massage Alison's earlobe in a rolling motion between her thumb and index finger. "Feeling better?"

Alison nods, almost melting into Emily. The touch sending shivers through her body. _This girl really knows to woo a person._

"Do they teach you this in your physical therapy courses in Drexel?" Alison sarcastically questions, noting how handsy Emily has been in the past twenty minutes.

Emily casually shrugs, "It's a part of the requirements,"

"To touch people so much? At this rate, I could see you being sued in the future for sexual harassment."

"Shut up and let me massage this tension off of you." Emily smirks as she finishes gently rubbing up and down Alison's ear and goes down to her hand. She opens up Alison's hand to extend her fingers. She rubs each finger from the base to the tip, gently pulling and twisting as she goes. She squeezes the fleshy part of the blonde's palm between the right thumb and index finger, moving from her wrist to the base of Alison's thumb. She applies firm pressure and uses gliding strokes from her wrist to the base of each finger.

"That…should relieve your headache." She remarks as she still observes her rubbing motion of Alison's hand.

"It does…" Alison surprisingly notices at the decrease in throbbing of her temples. _How did she do that?_

"See? I think I know what's good for your body." Emily contains her smile and keeps a straight face although she's smiling inside.

"No. You don't get to do that."

"Do what?"

Alison squints at Emily as Emily continues to massage her hand, pretending to act innocent.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She puts Alison's hand down and reaches for the other one. "Other hand, please?"

…

With the sun rays peeking from behind Alison's curtain, Alison is sound asleep while Emily watches her. After her massage, Alison and Emily continued to stay up until 5am; talking about little things to get Alison's mind away from her sudden nightmare. When Alison drifted into her sleep, Emily took the job of making sure she is safe and sound. Even if that means to stay up all night knowing she has an early shift at work with less than two hours of sleep. Caressing Alison's hand with her thump, she shoves her free hand in her pocket to see the time. _7:45am_. _Shit, I have an hour and a half until I have to go to work. _Finding herself a rock in a hard place, Emily knows that she has to begin to get ready. She looks over at Alison once more noticing she's not shaking, jerking, or mumbling. While still holding her hand, Emily opens her browser and begins to search for something. After a few minutes of scrolling, Emily grabs the number of a contact. Gently letting go of Alison's hand and slipping out of the bed, Emily tip toes towards the door of the apartment, trying not to disrupt Alison's sleep. She quietly and slowly unlocks the door and sneaks out into the hallway.

…..

"Alright, can you read that back to me, please?" Emily softly talks to the other person on the call as she leans against the wall besides the door, keeping an ear out for Alison.

…..

"That is correct."

…..

"Yes."

…..

"Ok. And if you can please tell them not to knock when they arrive. If they can shoot me a call or a text that they're approaching, that'll be great."

….

"Ok, Thank you. Bye."

…

Twenty minutes later as Emily sits beside Alison, her phone buzzes.

[Local number]: At apartment building, soon to be approaching (8:05am)

[Emily]: Alright. Thank you. (8:05am)

Emily quietly hops out of the bed, walks towards the door, opens it and stands outside in the hallway, awaiting for someone.

A baby faced teenage boy turns the corner and walks in Emily's direction.

"Here is your order of three pancakes with a side of French toast, two eggs, a South Western, and two bagels with butter and jelly." He hands Emily a bag with the boxes inside. "We threw in extra condiments in there for your choosing."

"Thank you." She hands the delivery boy $25. "Keep the change as a tip."

The boy pockets the money as he tips his hat to Emily, "Thank you very much, ma'am."

As the two separate ways, Emily quietly makes her way back into the apartment, shutting the door ever so gently. When she walks over to the kitchen to set the food down, she notices Alison is not in the bed but coming out the bathroom.

"Where did you go?" Her voice croaks as she rubs her eyes.

"Just in the hallway." Emily points to the bag, "I got some breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, French toast." She nods, "The good stuff."

"You didn't have to get that-"

"I wanted to." Emily politely cuts Alison off. "I brought this because I wanted to." She gestures the blonde to the bar as she takes the boxes out of the bag, "Come on and eat up while it's still hot."

Alison takes Emily's orders and walks to grab a seat, "What time is it?"

"Nearly 8:30."

"_Shit_, Em." Alison eyes widen as she props herself into her chair, "You have work in less than an hour."

"I know but its ok. I have enough time. Now, eat up."

"No, Emily." Alison shakes her head with her voice hoarse. "You have to still shower, get ready and drive over there all before the morning traffic begins." Emily cannot be late because of her. She doesn't have any work today so she's free to linger around. But Emily? She can't. "I'm fine, you have to go." She points to one of the take out boxes, "Take one of them with you and go."

Emily sighs as she looks at Alison. Even though she's trying to be strong, her face still has fragments of that terror from last night. Her eyes are puffy and her mouth seems to have a permanent frown. She can't leave her.

"Emily. I'm fine." Alison responds as if she read Emily's mind. "_Go_."

"Okay…" Emily obeys she grabs a white box. She walks past Alison to grab her things and puts on her shoes. Before she leaves, she walks up to Alison and gives her a tight, assuring hug. One that resembles the hug from that night in the hallway.

Emily pulls away and looks into Alison's eyes. "Call me if you need anything, Ok?" When Alison nods, without thinking, Emily kisses Alison's forehead before turning to leave for the door.

_Did she just do that? _Alison contemplates with herself as she watches Emily walk away.

_Did I just do that?! _Emily quickly questions herself as she walks, pretending not to make a big deal out of it.

As Emily turns the handle on the door, Alison calls out her name.

"Yeah?" Emily quickly turns around.

A silence is created for a brief moment as Alison gazes at Emily, taking in everything that has transpired.

"….I would push it."

***Makes animalistic noises***

**First off, I'm **_**sorry**_** for this late update. This was supposed to be updated yesterday but maaaaaaan, writing out that nightmare took **_**soooo**__**long**_** to write out because I wanted to make sure I got the right amount of eeriness. **

**Everything has to be perfect and creepy in order to actually feel like a nightmare, ya know?**

**Besides, while I was writing it, I was scaring myself haha. **

_**(Note to Self: Don't write/look up hauntings while listening to slightly dark songs at 2am in a pitch black room)**_

**Anyway! How about that Emison pillow-talk? ;)**

**I think we all deserve a person like Emily, don't you think?**


	18. Chapter 18: In the Night Air

**I was thinking of putting some type of warning in the beginning but then I thought that would kinda spoil the story with the surprise of what happens? But I take everyone being taken back a good thing! I just hope none of us get a nightmare anytime soon!**

**To Mcmeli: You know what? The original plan was to have Emily call Ryan for a shift switch **_**but **_**then an idea popped up of how I can incorporate him later. She only has one "Get out of jail free card" so you got to use it wisely, right? And YES. Those questions are 100% real, 0% made up. There is an actual site called "WillYouPushTheButton?" and whatever question I was asked, I transferred them to the story. If you ever go to that site, you'll see the thousands of craaaaaazy questions asked.**

**To Drea: Give AHS a try! It's such a goooooood show! I am a firm believer of evil spirits too and wooo! I was scaring myself because I kept imagining that demon thing I was creating was going to spawn into real life and come out of **_**my **_**closet!**

**To Guest on Drunk Emily: I left that totally up for your guys' imagination! :D You can imagine a little soft talking, hand grabbing, whispering all the sweet things. Anything a sober person would like and a drunk person would love :)**

**Again, thank you guys for your undying support! I seriously love you all! **

CHAPTER #18: In the Night Air

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Glad that she's having a slow day, Emily yawns as she wipes the down counter in front of her. In less than three minutes, Emily has yawned a total of five times and have pinched herself twice to remain alert. She looks up at the clock hanging on the wall in front of her. _Two more hours. All you have is two more hours. _

_That means two 60 minutes. _

_Four 30 minutes._

_Eight 15 minutes._

_You can hold on for 15 minutes eight times. That's right around the corner._

_You're fine, Emily._

"Looks like someone is trying to be steady. What's the matter? You sipped on a little somthin' somethin' in the back room?" Jack nudges Emily as he joins her in the bar.

"No…" She yawns, "No, I'm just really _really _tired."

"You didn't get any sleep last night?" Emily wearily shakes her head. "Why was that?" Jack scoots in closer to the leaning brunette, "You were getting some?" Emily opens her mouth to protest but Jack was already on the roll that can't be stopped. "Tell me! Tell me!" He whispers as he pulls Emily to the side. "Tell me _everything_!"

Emily side eyes Jack, "Okay, first of all, If I didn't know you I would have thought you were a creep."

"What?" Jack squints back at Emily before realizing what she meant. "No! Nononono! It's not like that at all. I'm not a perv! I just want to make sure that you're getting…what you deserve. The good things in life." He waves his hand between him and her, "Bro/Girl code."

"I am not your bro, Jack." Emily whines as she feels herself physically draining from this conversation.

"Of course you're not! Just….think of me as siblings we never had."

"I don't think I would ever talk sex with my brother."

"Ugh. _Fine_ I'm not your brother. Think of me as your….your…." Jack rolls his eyes in desperation, "Think of me as your best friend that _loves _you and would do anything to protect you. Right?"

"Ok…."

"Alright, then." Jack smiles, "Spare me the squishy details, just the main points."

"If I did have sex last night, Jack, _please believe _that you wouldn't know about it." Emily walks back to the bar with Jack following behind her. "I'm totally, completely, 100% fine."

Jack stop for a moments before he points at the counter. "Then why did you just wet the rag you're using to clean the counter with Budweiser?"

Emily looks down and sure enough, she sprayed the Bud nozzle on the rag thinking it was water. "Shit." Emily closes her eyes as she hangs her head, "These two hours are going to be long freaking hours."

…

Making it to her apartment by the grace of God, Emily enters her apartment only to be taken back by the instant heat wave. "_Holy fuck_!" Emily scowls at the condition of her apartment. Not having the energy to check the temperature of her place, Emily jogs up her stairs and pulls out her swim bag from her closet, filling it up with clothes and anything else she'll need while at her stay over Alison's.

_Work Clothes_

_Sleepwear_

_Bras/Underwear_

_Socks_

_Body Care products_

_Hair products_

"Ok, Emily, you're rooming with her for literally two day _not _living with her." Emily talks to herself after realizing how much things she's stuffed into her bag. She contemplates for a moment before reaching into her bag and unpacking it, taking out the unnecessary extras.

…..

Satisfied with the amount she packed the second time around, Emily wipes the sweat forming on her forehead. _I gotta get out the hell out of here. _Zipping up her bag and ready to head down the stairs and out the door, Emily's camera, a gift from her parents, sitting on her night stand catches her eye. Hesitating for a few seconds, Emily hops over her bed and grabs it. _This could be fun later._

…..

"How was work?" Alison asks as Emily takes off her shoes and trudges through her studio.

"It was hell." Emily throws herself face first onto the foot of the bed next to Alison. "It was slow but it definitely was hell." Emily lifts her head up to look at Alison. "How was your day so far? Everything ok?"

"Yeah. All I did was watch some TV a bit and took a nap. Everything is fine." Alison gives a closed lipped smile.

"Good, good." Emily shoves her face down back into the sheet. "That's very good to hear. Good…good stuff….good soft…stuff…"

Alison looks at Emily faced down in her bed and debates whether she should come out with information she was rehearsing to say all day. She wrings her hands and takes a deep breath. "While I was here, I've been doing some researching as to what are the causes of certain things. You know, cause and effect. And I think…well I'm pretty sure the cause of the nightmare I had was the effect of the medication I've been taking. Medication that has been prescribed by my therapist who I've been seeing for quite some time." Alison takes in another breath, "When I told you yesterday that I went to go shopping with Amy, I lied because I felt like you didn't need to know about any of those things. I felt like you should know the only things I tell you and that's it. But…when I was talking to Dr. Elliott yesterday, she made a good point. You're a really good person, Emily, and I see that. You deserve to know what's going on because if something was to happen, you should know how to help because…because I trust you. And I _never _trust anyone. Hardly even my own family. But you….I trust you."

Finishing her whole speech, Alison looks at Emily for a reaction.

"Emily…? Emily?"

Unfortunately, she has just came clean to an Emily that is long gone.

Passed out.

Hit the hay.

Counting sheep.

Alison sighs to herself as she shakes her head. "Well…there went that." Looking over at the floor next to the bed, she notices Emily's camera laying on top of her swimming bag. Curiously, never knowing that Emily was into such thing, Alison leans over Emily and grabs it. _Hmm…Canon… _She impressively nods as she inspects the camera. She powers on the equipment and views her studio from behind the lenses. Not actually taking any pictures, Alison zooms in the lenses as far as she can towards her front door, into her kitchen, then her living room. Impressed with visual quality of the camera, Alison concentrations the camera onto Emily. Focusing in and out with Emily as a focal point, the blonde watches Emily's sound body rise and fall, dead tired but still looking effortlessly beautiful. As curiosity strikes again, Alison clicks the gallery button to see what pictures have been taken. She knows now that she's crossing privacy boundaries but a little peak won't hurt. _She wouldn't bring it over if she didn't want it to be seen. _Scrolling through Emily's gallery, Alison sees there isn't as many pictures as she thought there would be.

_Emily and her parents at what looks like their celebration dinner in Virginia._

"_Oh wait! I think I'm recording!"_ A voice loudly plays on the camera speakers as Alison plays a video. Alison immediately fumbles for the volume to lower it, trying not to awaken the brunette and be exposed as a noisy snoop. She clicks over to the next picture, leaving any other videos alone.

_Emily cheesing with Spencer, Hanna, and Aria._

_Emily, Toby, Ezra, and Caleb._

_Several goofy selfies lying in bed_

_Pictures of various parts of apartment_

_Up close pictures of various objects_

_A mirror selfie of an outfit._

Alison smiles to herself remembering that outfit. It was the notorious party outfit that Emily wore with their drinking nightmare at the Rittenhouse.

**Looking at herself in her full body mirror, Emily glances over her choice of outfit. Starting from the top, her dark hair is pulled back in pumped-up height ponytail accompanied by stud earrings for a voluminous look. Light coverage of makeup with just enough smoke and a touch of a feline flick of the eyes to match her dark attire. A black reversible denim jacket covering a greyish-blue shirt. Glancing down her legs, she sports a pair of black rayon fabric skinny jeans with cute blue Nike ankle socks. **_**Yes ma'am.**_** She nods at her choice of outfit as she checks herself out. "Why not a quick little self-portrait before I go?" Emily walks over towards her night stand where the camera sat and turned it on. She stands in front of the mirror and snaps a few pictures. She sits on the bed and takes a couple more from different angles to have a good range of pictures to choose later. **_**That should be good for now.**_

_It's a shame that I saw most of that outfit on the floor-WOAH. Did I really just think that just now?_ Alison's winces at the free wondering thought that escaped the cages of her mind. She pauses as she questions her inner-self, trying not to go back to that night_._

_"__**Heeeey**__**, Ali" Emily purrs her name as she pulls Alison's body in-between her legs. "Hey, Ali…"**_

_"__**Em-" Alison voices but Emily cuts her off as she groggily stands up.**_

_"__**C'mere, Alison" she pulls her closer, making sure there is limited space between them. "Ms. DiLaurentis."**_

_No, I can't._

_Definitely not now while she lays in front of me._

Alison continues to skip pass Emily's selfies until it hits the end. If there is one thing that Alison can say without a shadow of a doubt, Emily is gorgeous girl. Both in real life and pictures.

…..

Nearly four hours later, Emily finally begins to wake up from her sudden nap. Looking at the walls, trying to remember where she is, Emily turns behind her to see Alison looking outside her window. With the wave of recollection, Emily stretches her limbs as she sits up.

"Hey." Alison softly greets Emily, as she leans against her wall.

"Hey…When did I go to sleep?" Emily disconcertedly asks as she checks her phone for the time, realizing its dark out.

"As soon as you came in," Alison jogs her memory. "The moment you fell on the bed, you disappeared."

"Really?"

"Mhmm…"

"Wow…I must have really been tired." Emily looks around for her swim bag, finding it on the floor next to the bed.

"Yeah, you really were." Alison decided not to mention anything about her voicing to Emily while she was asleep.

"Do you mind if I use your shower? I should have went before I came over." Emily asks as she digs for something to wear so she can get out of her work clothes.

"Oh no," Alison dismisses her, "don't worry about it. Go right ahead."

"Thanks. I'll be out quickly." Emily grabs her clothes and products and walks into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. As Alison looks back outside the window, the instant thought of the possibility of Emily coming in contact with her medication, causes her to gain a slight twinge of panic. _Damnit. I REALLY hope she doesn't get nosy and go through any drawers or cabinets._

…..

Out of the shower about twenty minutes later, Emily emerges from the bathroom as she towel dries her hair. "Thanks, again."

Alison silently nods as she lays on her bed focused on her phone as she plays some kind of game to pass the time. Putting her things away back into her bag, Emily picks up her camera that was left on the bed. Checking the battery life after she power it on, she takes a step back, focusing the camera on Alison who is so completely absorbed in her game that she doesn't notice that Emily is about to take a picture of her.

_Focuses lens…_

_Subtly moves to the side to get the best angle shot…_

_Annnnnnnd…_

_Click!_

Looking down at what she captured, Alison instantly speaks up, "Delete it."

"Why?" Emily gave her a small cool smile, "It came out really nice."

"Don't care." Alison shakes her head as her eyes still focuses on her phone screen, "Delete it."

"_Fiiiiiine…_Whatever you say." Emily pretends to delete the photo then powers off her camera to place it back in her bag. "_There_. It's deleted." The brunette hops onto the bed besides Alison with her head propped up by her elbow. "What do you want to do tonight? Watch a movie…? Play a game…? Sleep some more….?"

Alison locks her phone as she glances in the direction of Emily who is looking back at her. "I don't know. What do you have in mind?"

"…Let's go outside."

"Outside where?"

Emily shrugs, "How far up the stairs have you been?"

…

"I don't think we're allowed to be here…" Alison follows Emily's lead as they pass a _DO NOT TRESSPASS _sign.

"Don't worry. We're not gonna get caught." Emily pushes through a rusty single door to be received by the warm, Philadelphia night air. Walking on the roof of Alison's apartment, Alison's eyes widen in both amazement and fear.

"How far up are we do you think?" Emily breathes out as she overlooks the city.

"About 15 sto-stories high." Alison dreadfully responds as she stays frozen in stance.

"_Wow._" Emily purses her lips as she surprisingly nods with a smile on her lips, "That's a long fall…My apartment is only 7 stories high."

Sitting cross legged, Emily picks a spot facing the direction of the busiest part of downtown as Alison slowly makes her way to her. "This is one of my favorite things to do whenever I actually have time to do it," Emily begins to explain as she gazes into Philly's nightlife. "It's so…therapeutic. Sometimes, I'd come up here with just my music or nothing at all. Just taking in everything all at once. Where I am, where I came from, where I'm going….I definitely believe that people should once in a while detox from all the technology we're so sucked into and enjoy the beautiful nature given to us. So many people _wish_ they could bask in such scenery."

Alison nods her head, looking at the people walking on the sidewalk and the cars zooming by. "It's definitely different from Rosewood…"

"Once you get past all the constant noises and smog infested air," Emily chuckles to herself, "Yes, it's _very_ different from Rosewood." Emily looks down at the camera in her hands that she brought with her from Alison's room. "Different people, different living standards…everything is just different." She powers on her camera as she stands up, she looks down at Alison with her hand outstretched, "Come here."

Alison hesitantly stands up and takes Emily's hand. When Alison notices Emily walking closer to the end of the building, she immediately pulls out of her grip. "I don't know what you're trying to do-"

"Do you trust me?"

"What?" Alison lips quirked at the corners as Emily steps closer to her.

"_Do you trust me_?"

Not uttering a word, Emily extends her hand once again, waiting for Alison to hold onto. Alison looks down at Emily's hand for a moment before she slowly grasps it, looking back up to Emily's eyes.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise." Emily assures as slowly walks Alison to the edge of the roof. She sits down with her feet dangling off the edge still holding onto Alison's hand, convincing her to sit next to her. Trying not to look over the edge, Alison slowly lowers herself next to Emily.

"I'm not a big fan of this…"

"We'll only be here for a few moments. I just want to get some good shots." Emily takes her camera and starts fixing the settings to accustom to the dark night. "I always see people taking pictures with their feet dangling from a high level and I've always wanted to try it." Leaning back, trying to get her Nike sneakers and the aluminous street lighting underneath her, Emily flashes a few quick snaps. She turns to look at Alison, "Do you want some pictures taken?"

"No, I'm doing enough trying make sure some freak accident doesn't happen, sending us down 15 stories."

Emily laughs a scoff as she looks out into the distance across from Alison. "Woah!" She points, "Did you see that?!"

"What?!"

_Click!_

Alison twists her head back at a laughing Emily looking at the picture she took. "Why did you do that?!"

"What?" Emily innocently shrugs, "It's a candid shot."

"Oh no," Alison scoots her body back from the edge, making her way towards a safer spot away from a possible death. "That's enough time over there. You play too much."

Laughing at Alison's sacredness, Emily also scoots back to Alison's spot. "What's wrong? Afraid to live on the dangerous side?"

"If the dangerous side include doing reckless acts like that, yes. I'd rather play it safe and _alive_."

Shaking her head, Emily notices some kind of medium size cube, probably left up there by someone else. Getting an idea, Emily gets up, grabs it and walks back to Alison, setting the box in front of them.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying….to see if I could use….this box as a stand." Emily places her camera on top, sliding it until it is perfectly in the middle and able to capture both her and Alison in a shot. Fixing the exposure away from the lights, Emily presses record and quickly sits back into her sitting spot.

"You're taking a picture?" Alison points to the camera.

"Nope. A video." Emily grins as she fixes her hair. "Hopefully it comes out ok since there aren't that much light where we sit."

Alison looks at the camera, not sure how she feels about being filmed.

"I just wanted to capture the moment while we're up here," Emily responds as if she was reading Alison's mind. "Just ignore it" She looks at the blonde, waving the camera down, "Just pretend like it's not even there."

"How long have you had this camera," Alison asks as she remembers her snooping bit earlier.

"I got it as a gift from my parents during the swim meet dinner."

**"We know how much you liked to document everything when you were younger, so your mom and I brought you this Canon T5i camera. That way you can document your life from this point on and show your potential kids in the future." Wayne smiles as she hugs his wife with his arm around her.**

Emily smiles as she reflects, "_Definitely_ one of the best gifts of the night."

"What other gifts did you receive that night?"

"Hmmm…" Emily tries to recall everyone's presents that night.

**Spencer and Toby brought Emily a Keurig Coffee Maker. "For those days when you really need it. You can never **_**not **_**need coffee." Spencer remarks.**

**Aria and Ezra brought her a rose gold, Michael Kors Baguette-Bezel Watch. "Don't worry about the price of it," Ezra shifted in his seat, "Trust me, Michael Kors isn't as expensive as people think he is."**

**Caleb brought a Pen Power World Pen Scanner. "So instead of hand typing your notes into your computer, just scan this bad boy and it will translate the information from the pen to the computer. Works in any foreign language." Caleb proudly describes the nifty gift.**

"And Hanna…?" Alison hesitantly asks, not sure whether she wanted to bring up Emily's friends. "Did-did she get you anything?"

"**Ok, enough with the food and small talk. It's time for the gifts!" Hanna squeals as she reaches by her feet and grabs a medium sized white box wrapped in a red bow and hands it to Emily. Emily unwraps the bow, lifts the lid and moves the gifting paper to see what gift Hanna gave her.**

**"No you didn't."**

**"Fleur Du Mal." Hanna imitate, once again, in her French accent.**

**Emily holds up a red piece of lingerie, one of the three sets Hanna packaged for her. The table fills with assorted responses.**

**"Ok!" Paige laughs.**

**"Wooooah." Ezra comments with his eyes wide.**

**"Ummm…Why and who would you be wearing that for, young lady?" Wayne nearly chokes as he asks in his serious fatherly tone.**

**Aria notices a note that came with the gift, "Read the note!"**

**Emily looks at the note laying on top of the gifting paper.**

**"**_**For knocked off socks and hard nipples ;)"**_

**Emily quickly puts down the note, "Yeah, I rather not… Thank you, Han." She smiles at the blonde who has a knowing grin from Emily reading the note.**

**"Anything for you, my darling!" Hanna puts her hands over her heart.**

"Clothes." Emily nods, "Some clothing from the fashion line she works at."

"_Fashion line_?" Alison's body leaned forward with her attention fully drawn, "She works at a _fashion line_?"

"Well, interning. It's in New York."

"What?!" Alison gasps with her mouth hanging in disbelief. "That's…that's…Amazing! What line?"

**"Luxury. And it's not just **_**any**_** luxury. It's fucking luxury lingerie by Fleur du Mal," the blonde says in her best French accent impersonation.**

**Emily turns to lay on her stomach. "Flowers of evil?"**

**"I don't know what the hell it means but they're paying me and giving me exposure so there is no such thing as evil to me. This designer line has been featured in many outlets including Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, V Magazine, Interview, and L'Officiel! Like shit! This is huge!"**

**"I'm so proud of you, Han! I mean, not only can you work there, you can slip on a little something something for Caleb during afterhours." Emily smiles into the phone as taunts her best friend.**

**"Haha!" Hanna chuckles. "Not only that, I can send some to you! You know, so you can wear them under your clothes so when that faithful one night stand comes, you'll have something that'll knock the socks off them and get their nipples hard."**

"I'm not 100% sure…" Emily lies, "It's some kind of French luxury line."

"Wow…" There was a strain in her smile, "She is very lucky."

"Hey." Emily gently nudges her, "Don't fret, you'll get there too."

"And Paige?" Alison changes the subject back, "She gifted something too?"

Emily turns away with a shy forced smile, examining her fingernails.

**Paige whips out her gift inside of a small white box. Opening it, Emily pulls out a beautiful white chained necklace with a blue topaz and diamond teardrop pendant. She gasps at the beauty of it as the table awes. "I-I-I can't accept this. This had to cost you a fortune."**

**"I got it at Macy's." She smiles at the surprised brunette. "14k White Gold."**

**"How much was it?" Hanna boldly asks.**

**"Hanna!" Aria and Spencer both call out. "That's not an appropriate question to ask." Aria tells Hanna.**

**"I just wanna know!" Hanna innocently responds. The table looks at Paige to see if she is going to answer.**

**"It was on sale, so I got it for about $380."**

**Ezra chokes on his water and Wayne clutches his chest as the rest of the table gasps at the price.**

**"Holy shit!" Hanna accidently says out loud before immediately apologizing to Emily's parents.**

**"Oh my god, Paige! You should have never paid this much!" Emily says with worry spreading across her face. It isn't that she isn't grateful, because she is, It's just it's been so long that she would never imagine that much money being coughed up on the first day of a reunion.**

**"If you won't take it, I'll happily have it! Thank you, Paige." Hanna says as she extends her hand towards Emily.**

**Emily shakes her head, "Of course I'm going to keep it." She says as she put the expensive necklace back into its box. "Thank you, Paige." She leans in to give Paige a hug as Paige kisses her on the cheek. **

"She got me a necklace from Macy's." She responds.

"Oh, that's nice." Alison politely compliments. There is an awkward silence between the two as Alison mentally debates if she should even ask the next question. "I don't want to…intrude or anything. Just curious-"

"You want to know how Paige and I broke up." Emily nods as she finishes Alison's thought. Knowing the question was bound to come up sooner or later.

"You don't have to." Alison quickly adds in. "I was just-"

"No, no. It's ok." Emily sighs out. "It all started when we got back to my hotel…"

**Emily removes her arm from Paige's shoulder and places it on her chest. "Paige, we need to talk."**

**Paige looks up at Emily who has a serious look on her face. "What's wrong?"**

**"What's wrong? Paige… Where have you been? I haven't seen you in three years."**

**"I know, I know," Paige whispers as she nuzzles her head into Emily's neck. "I've been so busy with school and work, I haven't been able to see you how I wanted to," Paige's hands move from the corners of Emily's shirt to inside as she slowly climbs her hands up Emily's stomach.**

**"Paige, stop." Emily gently pushes Paige away from her. "If you came here, ultimately to have sex with me, I'm going to burst your bubble right now."**

**"Emily…" Paige starts off, confused. "Why are you doing this? You never pushed me away before…"**

**"Yeah, three years ago. Three years ago would I have wanted this?" She points between herself and Paige, "Yes! I would have pulled you down onto the bed with me as we tried not to make a lot of noise. But **_**that's**_** the thing. That was the feeling I would of had three years ago. Now we're three years later. Three years of horrible timing with texts, rare communication, nothing." Emily crosses her arms as sadness starts to creep into her tone. "You can't just waltz yourself back into my life like you've been gone for a weekend and think that we can just jump start back to where we were."**

**"Emily, I'm so sorry for the lack of everything," Paige apologizes, "That's why I took this trip all the way out here. Even though I haven't been there before, I wanted to be here now." Paige tries to uncross Emily's arms as she takes a hand into her own. She looks deep into Emily's eyes, "I knew this was going to be one of the biggest moments of your life and I wanted to be there for it."**

**Emily looks away from Paige, "Don't do that…"**

**"Do what?"**

**"**_**That**_**. give me that look." Emily says as she still avoids Paige's eyes.**

**"Em," Paige steps closer, "I'm sorry."**

**A tear escapes Emily's eye as she shakes her head, "Why did you leave me?" Her voice cracks as she looks down at their intertwined hands. "W-why did you go…and not want to even talk to me?"**

**"I really wish I did more, baby. It's just with school and-"**

**"Bullshit." Emily grits as she takes her hand away from Paige's. "Don't bullshit me, Paige." That moment of sadness and rejection is slowly being replaced by anger. "Don't tell me the reason you've kept away from me is because you were '**_**busy'. **_**I go to class, swim **_**and**_** go to work until 2am and **_**still**_** talk to my friends. At least twice a week. Because that's what you do when you love and care about someone." She says as she points her finger in Paige's chest. "You **_**make**_** time for them. No matter how busy you are, **_**you make time for them**_**."**

**Paige hangs her head, knowing that three years was a long time to leave someone waiting.**

**"So, you better come up with a better excuse then school and work because that's not gonna cut it."**

**Paige stays silent unable to form an answer.**

**"Paige McCullers. You better answer me." Emily demands as she looks directly at her.**

**"I don't know, Emily." Paige finally answers. "There were so many times I **_**wanted**_** to talk to you but I couldn't. Like I physically couldn't bring myself to. I just felt so bad for leaving that I…I didn't know what to say…"**

**"How about a simple '**_**Hello'**_**, '**_**How was your day?**_**', '**_**What are you doing?**_**' Paige, I don't ask for much. I hardly ask for anything at all but you couldn't even just **_**check**_** on me? You would rather leave me in the dark then to just call me?" Emily questions as she tries to understand where Paige is coming from but she's making absolutely no connections.**

**"I wasn't asking for a full blown explanation why you left … I just needed to hear your voice." Emily looks down again as she feels tears starting to form. "There has been many days where I needed you and you weren't there. I was convinced that...that you didn't love me anymore…" Emily begins to choke on her words as the tears start to fall down her face.**

**"Emily, never. I would **_**never **_**feel that way." Paige reminds the crying brunette as she takes her hand and pulls up her chin. Emily wipes away her tears with the back of her hand.**

"We got into a big blow-up after that and then I kicked her out."

**Emily looks towards the alarm clock set on the table by her bed. "I'm not supposed to have visitors here." She says in a low tone as she looks back at Paige, "You gotta go."**

**"Emily…" Paige begins to protest.**

**"If you don't leave and they knock at that door, they're gonna send me on the first flight out of here."**

**"It's not like you have any more races to do."**

**Emily squints at Paige, making a face of disbelief. "You **_**want**_** me to get kicked out? Just how you kicked me out of your life, you want me to go through that embarrassment?"**

**"No, Em, I-"**

**"Go, Paige." Emily looks towards the direction of the door.**

**Paige looks at Emily in sadness before making her way towards the door. She puts a hand on the door handle before turning around, "I hope you enjoy your gift. Wear it, don't wear it, sell it, do what the fuck you want with it…" She trails off as she proceeds to leave Emily's room.**

"I haven't seen her since…." Emily looks at Alison who is completely engrossed by story, "And I'm _perfectly_ ok with that." She smiles. "I'd rather much be up here, city gazing on trespassed property….with you."

With the streets noises and the chatter of people below them, Emily looks into Alison's blue eyes; She was looking more beautiful than ever in City Street light. She couldn't help but stare at Alison with curious interest and a smile of admiration towards her. In that split moment, Emily felt like it was now or never. She knew that yesterday was too early but right now- right at this very moment – she felt as though there is no one more beautiful or perfect than them in this moment. She looked into Alison and felt her eyes, an honesty and a kindness that is so often missed in the sourness of her past.

All of a sudden,

_The sounds_

_The cars_

_The chatter_

_The night life_

_Silenced._

_Except that brief glimpse of eternity._

"I wish you could see how beautiful you look right now…" Emily softly whispers as she places her hand on the blonde's face, placing her thumb on her lower lip to feel if it quivers the same way hers does. Maybe it buzz with the same vibration as hers. Maybe the hum on Emily's lips is Alison's kiss making its way to her. For a moment, Emily becomes almost enchanted by Alison's.

Flickering her eyes back and forth from Emily's eyes and lips, Alison feels her heart hammering in her chest. As Emily leans her face closer to hers, Alison stops breathing. Their lips hesitantly brushes against one another ever so innocently and so tentatively that it feels like either girl was afraid that the perfection in front of them wasn't real. Emily pulls her in, making the blonde feel needed whilst gently kissing her lips, slipping her tongue in to glide against the tip of Alison's. Focusing on her bottom lip, Emily follow's Alison's direction as she presses a little harder, not too hard, but just enough that causing Alison to melt into her. The warmth of Emily's mouth sent a shiver running through her body as she lost herself in her soft lips.

Pulling back slightly, Emily slowly opens her eyes with a smirk slowly creeping onto her face as a moment of astonishment sears onto Alison's. Hopelessly gazing into each other's eyes, Emily's smirk turns into a cheesy grin as she continues to stroke Alison's cheek. "Damn..."

Her lips trembled in an insecure smile as she shyly away, not knowing what to say – how to respond to a moment like that.

"Oh my god…"

"What?" Emily asks still looking at Alison in a daze.

"Your camera….." She points to the piece of equipment, "It's still on."

Emily frowned with her eyebrows and turns her sight in front of them. There it was. Sitting on the stand, perfectly capturing their intimate moment. Emily throws her head back with her eyes closed as starts laughing, completely forgetting all about it. She pulls away from Alison and crawls towards the camera.

"I think that was enough footage for one night."

**:O**

**:O**

**;) **_**Hey.**_

**Who said night skies and rooftops can't woo a girl? Only if you're not trying to dangling her off the edge.**

**What do you think? How do you feel? Have the feels penetrated you yet?!**

**Review, review, revieeeew!**

**Happy 4****th**** of July for my fellow 'Mericans!**

**Happy late Canada day for my Canadians! **

**Be safe and be responsible!**


	19. Chapter 19: Interlaced

**I'm sorry for such a wait since the last update! I was doing some traveling and couldn't update when I wanted to. Apparently if you write out your chapter on your phone and try to upload it via mobile, you run into some difficulties. **

**A quick hello to my new readers who just discovered this story! Especially, Me And My Luck! Hiiiiii :) Thank you for such a review, I seriously couldn't get enough of it.**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter despise the_ utter garbage_ we got from Emily and Sara in the last episode! :D I'm so disgusted! :D Emily stop and control yourself! :D I didn't raise you like this! :D**

CHAPTER #19: Interlaced

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Checking over the camera, the screen flashes off and the lens retract back as Emily powers off the device, placing it back on the stand for safe keepings.

Alison looks on, pointing at the camera as Emily slides back to her sitting position. "So, are you going to dele-"

Alison's concerns are silenced by the push of Emily's lips. Not wanting the moment to be ended by a small intrusion, Emily leans closer into Alison as she puts her hand on her neck behind her ear to pull her in gently with closed lipped kisses. Relaxing into her body with her parting her lips open, Alison allows Emily to enter her mouth. Having her heart pump faster than abnormally possible, the mere soft touch of Emily's tongue against hers sends goosebumps all throughout her body. Her lips were soft and full, and so gentle, and her hands were tentative. To Alison, she has never felt someone feel so much passion, so much need and genuine desire for her like how Emily portraying right now. Like how she has been portraying. But the anticipation between them is what's making this moment priceless.

To Emily, this kiss is like drinking a steaming cup of hot chocolate in the bitter cold; a slow, persistent warmth, spreading from the pit of her stomach to the tips of her fingers. The warmth of her fingers gently caressing Alison's face. Tenderly sucking on Alison's bottom lip, the blonde unconsciously moans from the pleasure of her lip being released from the brunette. Leaning back, gently pulling Alison down on top of her, an excited smile makes a way onto Emily's face as she lays on her back. Emily searches back and forth into the blue eyes hovering over her.

"Your eyes are fucking melting me down here." She laughs as she pulls Alison down into her. Alison resists leaving Emily kind of confused.

"Somebody might come up here," Alison nervously looks towards the entrance door to the roof.

"Nobody's gonna come. Don't worry." Emily assures her as she raises up to kiss Alison's jawline. Planting kisses trying to ease Alison's nerves, Alison returns to Emily's lips before a loud clunk sounds, startling both girls; Alison the most.

"What was that?" Alison apprehensively asks as she pulls back, her anxiety starting to take away the moment being shared between the two.

"That was the vents," Emily points farther out to the side of them to the huge machines ventilating the buildings before looking back up at Alison, "Its ok. They make noises like that all the time." Observing Alison's tense body language and uneasiness for a moment, Emily cuffs her face. "We'll go back if you want. We'll go back to your apartment if you feel more comfortable." Alison slowly nods her head inside of Emily's cuffed hands. She didn't want to ruin the mood but she didn't want the mood to be ruined at the hands of someone else neither.

.…

Leaving the roof before getting caught, both girls made their way to back to Alison's apartment. Alison in the kitchen and Emily sitting on her bed, both thinking to themselves what just occurred on the roof but neither of them wants to be the first to say anything.

Emily fiddling with her phone.  
Alison searching for something.  
Both trying to look occupied.

"Alison?" Emily sighs as she tosses her phone to the side. Alison looks over her shoulder to see Emily beckoning her over to the bed. Alison closes the cabinet doors and slowly walks over to the brunette with her heart beating a little faster than normal.

"Yes?" Alison stands over Emily.

Holding eye contact, the brunette reaches for Alison's hands and brings them in to her chest. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmm."

Still maintaining eye contact, Emily breathes out, "Alison, if you're nervous about us doing anything, we won't." Emily ensures as she shakes her head with concerned eyes. "I would never force you or pressure you into doing something you're not ready for. I'll be happy just with being able to hold you for the night." She smiles as she rubs her thumb against the back of Alison's hand. "Is that ok for you?"

Assuming that Emily can probably feel her nervousness seeping out of her pores, Alison nods her head in agreement to cuddling. It's not that Alison is completely put off by the idea of being intimate, it's just that she's not sure if she'll be able to handle the situation, seeming that she has yet to be with someone where true feelings are felt equally between each other. _Would I be able to give Emily the same amount of passion she's giving me?_

...

Turning in for the night, Alison lays on the left side of the bed as she's on her phone. Even though she's partially occupied by an app, the back of her mind is going at 100 miles per hour with thoughts ranging all over. She peers up at Emily sitting at the kitchen bar, talking to someone on the phone. From the sound of it, it sounded like she was making some kind of plans with another student at her college.

After a few minutes of both girls doing their own thing, still on the phone, Emily gets up and turns off the kitchen light leaving the apartment dark with the only light source coming from the blonde's open windows. "Yeah, maybe around 3 at the commons area. I don't have classes after that tomorrow." She lays on the right side of the bed, snuggling her head on Alison's shoulder. "Ok, perfect...Alright...You're welcome. Bye." She hangs up her phone, puts it on the charger ontop of the night stand and wraps her arms around Alison's warm body. "You need to get off that phone." She playfully teases the blonde, "You have to wake up early tomorrow."

"I didn't know I let the phone patrol room with me." Alison impishly ignores as she continues to look onto her cellular device.

"Even worse. You allowed a girl named Emily Fields room with you."

"How is she worse?"

"Because she does things like this-" Emily reaches over and snags the phone out of Alison's hand. Alison immediately turns around, reaching back to for her phone but Emily silences her protest before she begins. "Instagram, Facebook, Twitter can wait. It's not going anywhere overnight, you'll live."

Alison narrows her eyes at Emily as she places her phone besides hers on the nightstand. Emily turns back to the not-so-welcoming glare and giggles, "_Don't give me those eyes_. They'll do nothing but just-" Emily quickly stops herself and recovers just as fast, "make me laugh at you." The words she was just about to utter was definitely going to change the air of the room with her realizing it too late.

Alison huffs as she turns her back to Emily, causing the brunette to squeeze her, "_Aww_. Are you mad at me?" Alison stays quiet as she faces the outward part of her apartment, trying to keep a straight face. "_I SAID_," Emily repeats herself louder as she furiously tickles up and down Alison's sides, "_Are. You. Mad. At. Me?!_"

"Nononononooo!" Alison yells out as she tries to push off of Emily with her feet.

"No what?" Emily tickles her even harder, allowing her fingers to travel towards her back and legs. After a few moments, Emily's fingers wander to the back of Alison's knee, causing her to frantically squirm.

"No!" Alison breathes out in-between breaths, feeling like she was about to burst. "No-I-I-I'm not mad! _I'm not mad!_"

"That's what I thought," Emily scoffs as she stops the tickling and scoots her body closer to the recovering blonde. "You're not allowed to be mad at me...Not knowing what I know."

Alison slowly regains her normal breathing patterns as her stomach eased, "Know what?"

"Apparently your sweet spot." Emily merely brushes her fingers against the back of Alison's knee making her jerk. She laughs as she interlaces her leg over Alison's, placing a kiss on her cheek. "You're so cute. Now, go to sleep."

...

Hours into the night with Alison sound asleep in Emily's arms, Emily feels the blonde's body slowly rising and falling against hers as she looks out into the room daydreaming when her phone buzzes with a notification. Trying not to wake up Alison with the loud buzz, she unhooks it from the charger.

[1 New Message: Hannily :D]

[Hanna]: Waaaaaaake up! (11:19pm)

[Emily]: Luckily for you I am up (11:19pm)

[Hanna]: Why are you up so late? (11:21pm)

[Emily]: Becaaaause I woke up from a nap not too long ago (11:22pm)

[Hanna]: Oh well what's been going on?! I haven't talked to you in forever! What are you doing right now? Tell me everything. (11:23pm)

Emily looks over at Alison and hesitates her text back for a few moments,

[Emily]: Uhm, nothing much really. I'm just lying in bed right now (11:25pm)

[Hanna]: Whose bed? ;) (11:25pm)

[Emily]: Mines obviously lol (11:26pm)

Emily sends the text as she shakes her head. It's not that she's ashamed to say she's at Alison's, it's just that she has to find the right time to tell her friends that she and Alison are about to be exclusive.

Whenever that time might be.

…..

Waking up to the sound of her iPhone alarm, Emily reaches one hand back to silence the loud tune. After fumbling around for a moment, when the alarm is turned off she places her arm back around Alison's waist.

"What time is it?" Alison softly groans as she starts to feel her body waking up.

"8:30" Emily mumbles the answer into Alison's neck. "Give me about five more minutes." Alison starts to stir out of the bed when Emily pulls her closer. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bathroom."

"_Oh no_, you're not."

"But I have to use the bathroom."

"Then hold it."

Alison rolls her eyes into closing, "Holding your bladder is bad for you. I can die."

"Well, I'll start making the funeral arrangements." Emily lifts her head up to look at Alison, "What kind of padding do you want? Plush or Satin?"

"Neither. I want to be cremated." Alison uses her answer to catch Emily off-guard and quickly wrangles free from her grasp. Rising to her feet, she stands on the tips of her toes to stretch then turns around to look at Emily.

"How did you sleep?" Emily places her smiling face on a pillow, looking up at the blonde.

"Good…" Alison nods with a closed lipped smile, "It was good."

"Good…" Emily returns the smile, "That's good to hear."

"...So, uhm," Alison points Emily's swim bag, "Do you have your clothes with you or…?"

"Yep. Everything I need is pretty much in there. Are-are you planning on taking a shower right now?"

"Yeah." Alison turns to the bathroom then back to Emily, "You can use it after I'm done."

"Ok, great," Emily replies as she starts to get up, "Maybe….I can…start breakfast while you're in?"

"Yeah," Alison nods, "That'll be perfect, thank you."

The girls change looks of agreement before Alison walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind her. Making sure she's out of sight, Emily lightly groans back into her pillow. _Stop making it awkward. Stop making things awkward!_

…..

After a good hour and a half of both girls getting ready and eating a quick breakfast, they both stood in front of Alison's bathroom mirror one last time before they leave. Emily fixes her hair while Alison's applies her fresh coat of dark glossy red lipstick.

Emily turns to face Alison, "How do I look?"

Alison nods before she moves a strand of Emily's hair to a different side, "You look fine. What about me?"

"Gorgeous as always. _Duh._" Emily laughs with Alison turning back to the mirror. Emily leans against the counter with her arms crossed, "Do you think you'll be available for lunch or will Amy and Miranda steal you away today?"

"Knowing those two, they'd steal me as soon as we clock out since I haven't talked to them in a while," Alison responds as she presses her lips together. "I'll text to let you know. What time is it?"

"9:22" Emily reads the time off her lock screen. "Time to _goooo_." Following Alison out of the bathroom and turning off the light behind her, Emily grabs her bag and keys and walks to the door, holding it open for Alison.

...

Making small chit chat, Alison and Emily walk to Alison's vehicle in the car garage.

"Do you need me to drive to your apartment so you can get to your car?" Alison proposed as she stood by the driver's side door.

Emily flicks her wrist dismissively, "Oh don't worry about it. I can walk from here."

"Are you sure? I mean, I have enough time to…"

"It's okay, I'm fine." Emily encouragingly smiles, "Besides," She looks around the parking garage, "I haven't been doing as much exercising as of lately so I'll just use this time to get a good walk in."

Alison nods as she fiddles with the keys in her hand. "Okay, then…I'll see you later."

Emily approaches Alison and puts her arms around her waist for a warm and tight embrace. Upon slowly pulling back, impulse takes over and Emily leans in and places her lips on Alison's for a second before pulling back. She sheepishly looks into Alison's surprised eyes for some kind of approval when before she could even form any words, Alison leans forward and kisses Emily back. At a slow pace with just lips, they both part their mouths to get a bit more personal. With a hand sliding down to her hips, Emily raises her other hand, takes her thumb and slightly pulls down the side of Alison's bottom lip for her advantage of a better kiss. Her lips fall onto Alison's bottom lip as she lightly flicks her tongue across hers. In the moment, she slides her hand to the side of Alison's face so that her thumb is lightly rubbing back and forth. Not realizing where they were, who was around, or any other significant information, they were lost in a time-stopping moment once again and either of them would be damned if it was taken away yet again. The kiss slows down and ends with a few pecks before they slowly pull apart.

Emily's eyes flutter open as Alison takes her time to open hers. Looking at each other, Emily starts to nervously laugh as she steps back. "...Have fun at work, Alison."

"Thanks..." Alison shyly grins as she sweeps the concrete floor with her eyes. "…En-Enjoy your classes."

Emily nods as Alison idly stands around not knowing what to do after a moment like that. Awkwardly laughing, she unlocks her car door but before she gets in, she turns back to Emily, "Are you sure you don't need a ride..?"

The brunette rocks on her heels, smiling, "On second thought...I think it'll be a better Idea," She pretends to fan herself, "It's getting pretty hot outside and I might not make it."

Alison giggles as she gets in and starts her car with Emily hopping into the passenger side. Putting on their seat-belts and putting her gear into reverse, Alison backs out of her parking space with the radio already on, playing a pretty upbeat song for such a sunny early morning. Curious to hear what's playing, Emily raises the volume a few notches as Alison changes gears and heads toward the parking lot exit.

_"I can feel it rising, _  
_ Temperature inside me._  
_ Haven't felt for a long time!_

_Your hands on my hips, _  
_ and my kiss on your lips._  
_So I could do this for a long time!"_

Both hearing exactly how the lyrics went, Emily instant gave herself away with rather large and bashful grin creeping on her faces as she can't believe the surreal timing. She sneaks a peek at Alison out of the corner of her eye to see that she is mirroring her exact stunned emotion as she bites the corner of her bottom lip.

"That was the Skrux remix to the popular song, "_Heartbeat Song_" by Kelly Clarkson." A female radio DJ fills the car as she takes over the fading song, "I don't know about you guys but that remix is sooo sexy. Shoutout to Skrux aka Kaylan C. Brown all the way from Arlington, TX with that amazing reproduction. Heartbeat Song explaining exactly how you feel about that _special someone_. Someone that makes your heart flutter just by mention of their name or even a word that _sounds _like their name! I hope everyone out there is able to find that someone that just takes all their stresses away and makes them feel wanted because _hey_! We all deserve that! This is your girl, Casey, and to keep the good vibes going, this is Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller with "_The Way_" on Philly's #1 Hit Music Station, Q102!"

**So many internal "_Yays_!" right now! It looks like something serious is brewing in the land of Emison.**

**However...**

**It gives me _no pleasure_ in doing this **_**but…..**_

**I think I'm going to put Trouvaille on a hiatus. _Not for too long, however!_**

**The reason why is because I need to carefully plan out the direction of this fic. I'm starting to become indecisive and the last thing I want to do is post updates with a botchy plot.**

**I hope you guys understand my decision :( I would rather take some time off to plan this story and come back better than ever than lose direction and update a story with lots of holes in it. I want you guys to enjoy this! Trust me, When I come back, I'll have plenty chapters written so I can just floss them out.**

**With that being said, I don't want you guys to kill me when you see me updating my other two stories and not this one. I love you guys and I know you love this story so I'm always thinking of ways to make it better. Hey! Do you have something that you'd **_**maybe **_**like to see in the story whether it regards fluff, drama, romance, angst or whatever? You can always PM me and I'll consider it!**

**But let's not fret on the bad news! Let's talk about what's going on between Emison in this chapter! **


	20. Chapter 20: Say It Again

**Hi, my precious babies!**

**Did you miss me? ;)**

CHAPTER #20: Say It Again

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

With the apartment's on call assistance fixing their long awaited issue, Emily's apartment was finally back to regular temperatures, allowing Emily to return back to her place even though she wouldn't mind staying over Alison's a bit longer. In the passing days since their kiss in the parking garage, Emily just can't stop smiling to herself anytime the thought of Alison comes around. Which is a pretty frequent reoccurrence. Being with her when she can, talking to her when she can, having opportunities to give her small kisses when she can –which she can admit that the greedy side of her wishes she could do it more often - every moment with Alison is just recreating the feeling she experienced when she passionately kissed her for the first time. Being with her, she has her own personal groundhog day. And she is nowhere near complaining.

On the other side, Alison's feelings are definitely overwhelming her. Part of her wants to completely undress herself and let Emily in, whereas, the other part of her wants to push her away. When they're together, seeing Emily's silent giggles, warm hugs, subtle touches, reassuring smiles, and very heartfelt kisses, it makes her believe in fairytales she swore didn't exist. But at the exact time, Alison's faint expressions: her low eyes, blank facade, hesitant movements, forced smiles, and destitute but silent needs of affection makes her second guess herself.

"**So…What exactly is your reasoning for it? For the reluctance? What are you afraid of?"**

**Alison head hangs down as she carefully contemplates her answer, "I've lost too many people in my life. I don't have anyone."**

"**But Emily is there-"**

"**For now." Alison cuts Dr. Elliot's statement short, "But what happens when she leaves? What happens when she doesn't get excited to be around me like she is now? What happens when she gets bored or finds someone new who peeks her interest? What happens then?"**

**Dr. Elliot understandingly nods her head, "So you're going to push Emily away so you won't lose her?"**

"**I don't **_**want **_**to push her away." Alison corrects as she turns her gaze away from the therapist, "I'm…I'm just trying to protect myself."**

"**So right now, Emily is giving you a tight bear hug while you're only giving her a one-armed side hug." **

"**Well, if you put it that way…."**

"**Does she notice this?"**

**Alison shakes her head, "I don't think so. I mean, it's not like I'm faking myself when I'm with her. It's just that I'm afraid of allowing her to become attached." She responds with dejection resonating in her voice. **

**Dr. Elliot taps on her notebook as she observes Alison's gloomy outlook on her relationship with Emily, "When you guys first met here…who was the one making the moves?"**

**Alison cocks her head to the side with a look of unfamiliarity, "I was…"**

"**You were?" The therapist raises an eyebrow in surprise. **

"**I was just being nice." Alison nonchalantly shrugs, "Being so alone in the city, seeing a familiar face, thinking it was going to ultimately result to nothing, I was the one to strike up things. But now it's more than nothing. It's **_**something**_**."**

"**It's like being that kid at a game. You talk major smack talk because you think nothing is going to happen to you. But when that other kid comes and takes you up on your offer, you immediately back down."**

"**That's…" Alison chuckles to herself as she looks at her hands, "That's a very accurate comparison."**

"**Alison," Dr. Elliot straightens up, leaning her body in the blonde's direction for her words to really impact. "Why are you thinking of ending something that could potentially be a turning point for you? Why are you going to put yourself through that pain? I can see that you **_**really**_** like Emily. I mean, you allow her in your apartment to sleep for a few days, you've shared a few intimate moments, you're allowing her into your personal bubble that has been an issue for you in the past. Why are you trying to write this experience off as negative before you can even experience it?"**

**Alison sucks in a great amount of air as she puts her face in her hands. They travel down to the side of her face and down to the back of her neck, "I'm just scared." Alison looks up at the doctor with sad eyes, "My friends here don't know who I really am. My father talks to me once a month and that's **_**with**_** awkward silences and pathetic small talk as if we're strangers in an elevator. I'm not even sure if Jason and I are related anymore because we haven't talked since I was in Rosewood. He never calls." Alison looks down to the floor as she defensively crosses her arms, "Holidays? **_**Nope**_**. Birthdays? **_**Never**_**. I could be coked up on skid row right now and would he know? **_**Not a clue**_**. It's not like I could call him because when he's not changing his number, he doesn't pick up the phone or responds to any of my texts. We don't even know each other anymore. And the only time I see my mother is in horrifying nightmares that make me want to curl up in a corner for days. I-" Alison's voice starts to crack as she pauses. She closes her eyes as she shakes her head, "…I'm scared."**

"Alison," Emily drums her fingers on top of the counter to get Alison's attention.

"Huh?" Alison snaps out of her sudden daze she didn't realize she was in. "Wh-what did you say?"

"_Harbor Park_." Emily repeats herself after telling her plans to a hazed Alison, "You and I after you get out."

"Uh, _Harbor Park_?" Alison fiddles with her work name card, "Where is that?"

"It's where I'm taking you out for our first _totally_ date." Emily grins with excitement as she leans her body and crossed arms against the checkout counter, "All of our hangouts were classified as _'totally not a date'_, so now I want to go on a _'totally is a date'_...with you." Emily tilts her head to the side with a smile, "We're going to go around 5, play some games, eat some food and then lay and watch the sun set. That way we can witness the night light _come to life_. I promise you're going to love it."

Alison slowly nods her head raising her eyes to meet Emily's, "Sounds like a date."

"Totally a date."

…

Looking into her bathroom mirror, Alison observes herself. Observes her face, her face, outfit, her overall look. _In a few minutes, Emily should be parked outside the apartment entrance awaiting her date to a park. Some park that I haven't really heard about before. Well, at least I don't think I have. A park that we're going to have our first official date. An assumed very public place. What am I so worried about? _Alison takes deep breath and she throws her head back and pops her medication into her mouth, she then grabs her cup of water and swallows it down. _I'm not worried. I'm….I'm not worried. There is nothing to be anxious about. I'm not anxious. It's just Emily. Why am I getting nervous? _

_Buzz!_

_[1 New Message: Emily]_

Emily: Outside :)

_I'm not nervous. I am…excited._

_Excitedly nervous._

…

Getting to the Spruce Street Harbor Park, the two girls are greeted with immense laughter, happiness, and an extremely large crowd of people enjoying themselves as they wait for the sunset. Such a fun, creative summer destination for a first date. Among the park there are hammocks, fire pits with lots of little cafes, kiosks and food trucks. Not to mention the swan boat rides, and attractions to visit such as a ship-building shop, old gigantic ships, and the Seaport Museum. One of Emily's main reasons for taking Alison; the vibe and setting of this park is amazing. Makes you want to just take a deep breath in and enjoy the day or night. Or simply both. However, there was no way Emily was going to allow this night to pass undocumented so she made sure she fully charged her Canon. Whether Alison wanted it or not, Emily was determined to catch every moment on camera.

"Wow…" Alison gazes out to the scenery in front of her, "I've never seen or heard about this before…"

"That's because it's fairly new." Emily smiles as her gaze is set on Alison taking in everything. She reaches for her hand and interlaces her fingers with hers, "Now, you can experience everything first hand."

As Emily and Alison wonder around the musically-filled park with the sun soon about to set, they explore the area and its many levels of entertainment. From walking the boardwalk to trying their hands at the Shuffleboard game to visiting the different food vendors, Emily really tries to set a good impression before the night falls.

"WELCOME TO THE BEER GARDEN! COLD FRESH BEERS! COME AND GET IT!" The two pass an enthusiastic outside bartender. Squinting at the menu as they continue on their walk, Emily picks up on Alison's interest.

"You want something to drink?"

"Uh yeah I'm just….I'm just trying to read what they have…"

Emily tugs Alison along to the open counter of the bar shack as they both take a look at the menu. "What are you in the mood for? Something light?"

"Yeah…" Alison agrees as she continues to scan the overhead menu, "I'm not sure what's good, though." Alison changes her sights from the blackboard to Emily with the twist of her head, "What do you think?"

A smile creeps on Emily's face as she swings her neck towards the bar's offerings, "Well….If you want something light that still has a _beer_ taste to it, I say Miller Light."

"I guess Miller light it is." Alison returns back a soft smile.

Emily eyes drift down to Alison's lips before she contains herself and looks towards the working bartender. "Hey, uhmm, how much is it for two Miller Lights?"

"Two cups is $18.96" The male worker responds through the black tint of his sunglasses as he props his hands on the counter in front of him.

His response almost sends Emily staggering back in shock at the prices, "$20 just for two cups? How big are these cups?"

The bartender bends down and pulls out a 16 ounce plastic cup that he serves all his customers, "We don't sell the actual bottles in fears of broken glass and shit like that."

"But $20?" Emily laughs a laugh that's more masked with disbelief than amused, "Will this beer make me fly?"

"With the right amount of drinks, it can make you do anything." The worker winks at Emily as he begins to smack his gum.

"We don't have to get it if it's too expensive," Alison pulls Emily in and quietly whispers to her.

"Nonono, its fine." Emily reaches into her pocket and pulls out her wallet in means of paying for both her and Alison, "Don't worry about it. I got you." Emily gives Alison a wink before she returns to the bartender and mocks a gripe, "_Ugh_, you're killing me here. You know what I could have wasted this twenty on? You guys are robbing me." Emily hands the bartender the twenty as he laughs at Emily's complaints.

"Hey, I gotta eat too." He breaks the twenty for Emily's change back, "You try bartending for about 300+ people."

Emily chuckles with a shake of her head, "Don't play that card with me, mister. I am a fellow."

The worker lifts up his sunglasses in surprise, looking up Emily up and down before he hands her back her change, "No shit. Where do you serve?"

"Cavanaugh's."

"Well then you should know!" He lets his sunglasses fall back down into place as he extends his arms out with a beaming grin, "We gotta support one another! Bartender to bartender! You can give me shit if you know the deal."

"_Uh huh_." Emily smirks with her nose turned up at him, "Just gimme my ML's." Hopping to their drinks, Emily turns to face Alison as she shakes her head at her with an almost laugh, "Pfsh. _Guys, amirite_?"

…..

With the skies dimming and the overhead lights beginning to twinkle, Emily and Alison head over to the grassy, packed parts of the park.

"Alright, Alison. We must initiate mission one." Emily mocks in her best narrator voice as she scopes her surroundings

"What's mission one?"

"Hammocks. We must find an open hammock." Emily points to the scattered hammocks, each filled with a set of couples who don't seem to be leaving anytime soon, "This will be a battle but we must overcome the obstacles and get one."

"Ay ay, Captain." Alison salutes, now signaling the start of their venture.

Keeping their eyes peeled on the crowd and on the time, Emily wraps her arms around Alison's shoulders, pulling the blonde close to her. "How would you rate this _totally a date_ date?"

Pressing her warm body against Emily's side, Alison holds onto the brunette's fingers as they sway through the crowd ranging of children all the way through the elderly, "You did a good job picking this place out. I give you three stars."

"Just three stars?!" Emily mouth hangs as she looks at Alison smirking to herself, "I deserve a solid five out of five."

"Nope. Just a three."

Emily scoffs and looks outward as she mocks Alison. Right in that exact moment, Emily spots a couple getting off of their hammock, immediately sparking her into action. "Look!" Before Alison could fully understand the situation, Emily grabs Alison's hand and runs through the crowd, trying to avoid running into people in the process. Nearing in closer to the hammock, another couple cuts in front of them and hops into the swing before Alison and Emily got the chance to claim it.

"_Hey_!" Both Alison and Emily call foul together in unison.

"Sorry!" The guy boasts a heap of laugher as he grabs his girl's leg and pulls her into him. "Looks like you chumps gotta find another hammock."

"You guys cheated!" Emily huffs out as she puts her hands on her hips, half-playfully and half-serious. "That was ours."

"_Sorry! _If you look around, you might be able to snag another one," The guy's assumed girlfriend speaks up.

…

Wondering around for another ten minutes, Emily and Alison were set on game mode as they kept aware of where they could find another open hammock. With the sky lights slowly dimming, Emily keeps an extra eye out. She wanted to be laying down for her grand finale but that will all be spoiled if they don't throw elbows. While Emily sits in her thoughts, Alison lets go of her hand and runs off to the left, leaving Emily with a late reaction and a late start to catch up. Leading the brunette, Alison excuses herself as she rushes by the slow walkers and nonobservant teens in her way as Emily gets stuck behind with the stragglers. Getting close enough to her destination, Alison throws herself into the hammock before anyone else could try to snag it from underneath her.

Finally catching up to her a few moments later, Emily walks up to Alison laying cozily in the hammock, her hands behind her head with a victorious smile on her lips.

"Well look at _this_…" Emily eyes roam down Alison's body, "You don't wait, do you?"

"Nope."

Emily saunters over to the hammock and takes the space on the right side of Alison as they swing lightly from side to side. "This was definitely worth the run."

…

Grabbing a hammock more isolated than the center swings, the two girls lay comfortably as Emily hangs her leg off the side of the hammock to use the tips of her shoe to rock them. Posing for the camera as Emily takes a few self-portrait pictures to capture their happy moments together, a few selfies are taken with happy grins, serious 'model-like' smizes, goofy looks and a few cute poses of Alison leaning into Emily and Emily hopelessly gazing at the girl clinging onto her. Checking over the pictures in her gallery as the playlist music of the park fills the open air, Alison gently nudges her.

"Where's the grand finale you were telling me about earlier?"

"Give it a few seconds..." Emily quickly checks her watch before she grins up at the trees and wire lines above them with a twinkle in her eye. Following her lead, Alison glances up at the sky as well. Working on a timer, with the sky darkening underneath the sunset, the dim skies slowly brightens up with the trees glowing a soft pink aura from the hundreds of LED lights suspended above them and spread across the entire park. With the small murmur of awe from the park-goers and the waves of the intro of a melody charged music track playing to accompany the scenery, Alison silently gasps to herself as she takes in the unreal beauty of a sight in front of her.

"_More and more this keeps turning into a fairytale…_" She soundlessly mumbles to herself, inaudible for Emily to catch onto.

Taking the neck strap off and resting the Camera on top of her, Emily takes in the beauty of Alison's amazed stare off into the blooming lights. The brunette's expression goes from happy to worried when she sees Alison wipe away a tear from her eye that she hopped Emily didn't catch.

"_Hey_…" Emily turns her whole body to face Alison as the blonde presses her lips together with an attempt not to face Emily, "Hey. Are you okay?"

Alison stays silent for a moment, carefully deciding her words before actually speaking up, "You know the movie Avatar? Where they went to this….magical forest with the colorful lights?"

"Yeah, I remember,"

"This is like that forest." Alison shakes her head with a single chuckle, "The lights, the colors, the environment, the….the…." Alison tries to finish her sentence but she covers her face with both hands as Emily's concerns grow even more.

"_Alison_, talk to me. I'm right here." The brunette places a reassuring hand on Alison's arm, rubbing it back and forth, "I'm right here."

Alison's hands slide down her face as she wipes away her tears, taking in a deep breath. "Why are you doing all this for me?" Alison turns to face Emily whose face droops in apprehension. "Why are you coming out of your way to do this? To do anything of this? To bring me here?"

Emily lays there in silence, not responding to Alison's questions but only looking at her with a serious gaze. Alison scoffs and rolls her eyes as she uses her index finger to wipe underneath her eyes.

"Who am I to you?" Emily asks. Alison ignores Emily's question prompting Emily to reposition herself and ask again. "Alison, do I mean anything to you?

"Of course you do." Alison breathes out as she turns her head to the side with another tear running down her cheek.

"And you mean _so much _to me…" Emily caresses Alison's face and wipes away the falling tear with her thumb, "That's why I wanted to bring you here. Because you're worth it." Alison sighs as she grabs Emily's wrists, looking deeply into her warm brown eyes as her chin beings to lightly tremble. No matter if there were 100 people surrounding them or 1000, at the moment in time, Alison and Emily only see, hear, and feel one another. "All it took was for me to see you again at your job, for you to travel hundreds of miles for my meet, for me to see you the way I see you now…I want this all the time." Emily holds onto Alison as the pink lights fade into a deep blue that reflects off of Alison's face ever so heavenly just as how she looked on the rooftops with the city lights, "Alison, I care about you _so_ deeply that I would do anything for you. I would fight for you. I would help you in whatever you need. I…I just want to be there for you." Emily shakes her head as her eyes drift off to the side in dreariness. "When you had that nightmare that night…from that point on, all I could think about is what would have happened if I wasn't there. If you had nobody to hold onto to tell you everything was ok. The thought of you going through that terror by yourself...You scared stiff-less in your apartment….I don't want that for you. I _want_ to be there for you like I am for you now. All I need for you to do is let me."

Tears fall from Alison's eyes and run down Emily's hand as she shook her head with a voice that shook in uncertainty, "I don't deserve you. All I'm going to do is hurt you. I bring nothing but pain to-."

"Alison, stop-_stop_." Emily lightly shakes Alison to stop her from rambling on with her pessimistic views. A hopeful sad smile comes across Emily's lips as she lowers her voice, leaning closer into her, "_Let me be there for you, Alison._ Okay?I want to be yours and I want you to be mines. _Please_…we deserve _this_! _We deserve each other_."

Hearing Emily's words, the sincerity behind it. The passion, the want, and the need, Alison feels foreign to the feeling. However, all she knows is deep down, Emily is right. She felt safe in her arms. Anything that felt overwhelming or scary, she enjoyed the fact that she has Emily right there to be there for her. She knows this. And she also knows that she'd be an _idiot _to let her go. Her mouth peels open with an insecure tremble as she smiles at Emily. "…I want to be yours."

Emily's heart almost disrupts its pattern as she heard Alison actually say that she wants to be her girlfriend. Not imagining it but her actually saying it. Beaming all kinds of happiness and excitement, Emily strokes the side of Alison's face, "Say it again," Alison laughs as she doesn't break away from Emily's concentrated, eager eyes. The laughter dies down to a lingered smile as Emily's yearning overtakes her as her gaze flicks back and forth between Alison's eyes and lips. "Say it again."

Alison sucks in her bottom lip as she stares into Emily's big brown eyes, "I…want…to be…yours."

Emily gently pulls Alison's face into hers as the two presses their lips together. Giving Alison a few pecks without going into a deep kiss, Emily begins to smile into her kisses, overjoyed at the moment. Unable to give a proper kiss like previous times, Emily pulls away from Alison and rests her forehead against hers with Alison looking up at her in bliss. "I'm sorry can you say that _one more time_? I just like the way you say it." Emily coolly bites her lip.

"I want to be yours, Emily Fields."

….

Fast-forwarding to the weekend, Alison lays in Emily's bed with the brunette's hand softly rubbing the fabric of her jeans as she listens to Alison explain her day at work.

_Or at least try to explain._

"So, I was telling this woman that the price of the lotion was _the set price_ but she insisted that I was wrong, the system was wrong, the whole entire company was wrong and she was right."

"_Mhmm_…" Emily responds through the vibration of her vocal chords seeing that her lips were too busy nuzzling Alison. Pushed up against Alison's body, Emily lays on her side as she places gentle kisses on Alison's neck while she speaks.

"So, I have to leave the register and go to where she supposedly _found _the lotion at a cheaper price." Alison continues with her storytelling, unphased by Emily's greediness. "When I finally get there, she shows me the sign where it says $4.89 for the facial cream. Although it says _facial cream, _she tried to argue with me that it was for the lotion. Now, I don't know if she had some kind of…._problem_ or something, but the moment, I started getting pissed off when the 10 second threshold passed of me standing with this woman. _Arguing _about the price of the lotion _when it obviously _says_ facial cream!"_

"_Mhmmmm_…"

Alison looks down at Emily who is consumed in her own little world, "Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah." Emily stops her kissing spree, "You said you got a facial cream that was lotion and a lotion that was facial. I heard the whole thing." She replies before she goes back to her small job, working her way to the side of Alison's neck.

"How much was the facial cream?"

"It was like $10. I heard you."

"That isn't even close to the price," Alison laughs aloud as Emily giggles into her.

"Well it outta be. Everything in that store is too damn expensive anyway." Emily wraps her arms around Alison's waist and pulls her on top of her. "I love your stories but _uhmmm_….I'd rather be doing this right now." Emily reaches up and kisses her, latching onto Alison's bottom lip.

"Mmmm!" Alison pulls away as she looks at the lock screen of her phone.

"Stop running away from me before I have to hold you down." Emily mumbles in her drunken like adoration haze as she runs her hands up and down Alison's side and places another soft kiss under her jaw.

"I have to run over to my apartment really quick." Alison responds as she climbs off of Emily, leaving her like a sad puppy who couldn't have her bone, "The delivery guys are coming around this time and if I'm not there to get my package, they're going to send it back to the post office and I'm going to have to drive out there to pick it up." Alison informs Emily as she scoots off the bed and to her feet.

"What package are you getting?"

"It's an accessory that I need for my class." Alison wastes no time and heads down the stairs, causing Emily to hop off the bed and follow after her. "Without it, I won't be able to do my upcoming project."

Emily groans as she throws herself onto her couch as Alison walks past Emily's kitchen counter and grabs her keys, "You can get it later. Come back with _meeee_."

"I will…after I come back." Alison bends down to put on her boots by the door. Hearing Emily continue to mope in the background, Alison puts on her last boot and turns to the door. "I'll be back."

"Hurry back!" Emily peeks over the couch's armrest with her eyes low and lips pouted, "Don't have me waiting."

…

Laying on her back as Emily rests her eyes, she hears her phone ringtone go off in the distance. She jumps up, rushes up her stairs into her bedroom and jumps on her bed, reaching for her phone to see who was calling her.

"Hello?"

"_Emiiiily_!" A voice screeches on the other end causing Emily to remove the phone away from her ear.

"Hey, Hanna." Emily laughs at her friend's wild greeting.

"What the hell are you doing right now?"

"Nothing, really." Emily flips to her back as she looks up to the ceiling above her, "I was just resting on my couch before you called. What are you doing?"

"Walking through the city and decided to give you call because I love you."

Emily giggles to herself, "I love you too, Han."

"You know you're the only woman for me, right?"

"Of course. Hannily love lives _forever and ever_."

"You better have not been cheating on me since I've been away." Hanna voice turns playfully stern, "You know I'm working long shifts to provide for our household and seven kids."

"I'm not cheating on you." Emily smiles into her phone, "You're the only _Hanna_ in my life. The only Hanna I neeeed." She replies in a singsony voice.

"You better not because if you were, I'd tell you to tell that skank you've been messing around with that when I come home, I'm gonna rip out these extensions and kick her ass."

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

_That was quick. _Emily thinks to herself as she pushes herself off the bed to answer the door for Alison, "Whatever you say, babe. I'll even give you a foot massage when you're done kicking her ass."

Making her way through her living room and towards the entrance, Emily unlocks the door knob lock and swings open the door.

"_SURPRISE!_" Aria and Spencer yell out in unison causing Emily to jump back startled, nearly dropping her phone at their loud voices and sudden appearance.

"You better get the oils ready, Ms. Fields-Marin!" A voice sounds before Hanna appears from the hallway corner with her arms extended and bags in her hands, "Mama's home!"

**Did this come back with a bang or what? ;) **

**I seriously missed all of you guys so much. From the people who were there from chapter one to the people who are binge-reading right now for the first time. Thank you all for the support, the amazing reviews and ability share this story around. This is my 1****st**** ever fanfic child and I couldn't be any more proud of it :)**

**The only thing I ask is for you guys to bear with me. This term is coming to an end and my professors are cutting me **_**no**_** slack so the updates might be a little rocky but just know that I'm back with you guys.**

**Tell me what you think for this chapter! What do you think is going to happen next chapter? What would you do if you were in Emily's position? I honestly love reading your guys' reactions for they make my day :D **

**Tell your friends! **

**Tell your pets! **

**Write a letter to your congress and tell them I'm back! :)**


	21. Chapter 21: Friends of Support?

CHAPTER #21: Friends of Support?

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Standing behind the door in shock and a bit of nausea, Emily forces a smile as Aria and Spencer walk inside of Emily's apartment.

"Oh, _wow_! What a nice place!" Aria comments in awe at Emily's living space, gazing her eyes all over.

"Thanks…" Emily responds over her shoulder as Hanna approaches her.

"_My baby_!" Hanna outstretches her arms and cups Emily's face, giving her a kiss on both cheeks as Emily tries to be genuinely happy but gives a pained smile instead. Luckily, a look Hanna didn't catch onto. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm _starving_." Hanna walks past the brunette into her apartment.

"I told you to eat when were in the city." Spencer voice calls out as Emily slowly closes her door, placing a hand on the wood as she tries to collect all of her thoughts in one place.

"Why would I waste money in the city when I'm going to a friend's house where I could eat for free?" Hanna carelessly responds to Spencer's nitpicking as she saunters over to Emily's refrigerator, opening it to see what her choices of nourishment are. Emily gradually treads towards the space between the open kitchen and living room with Spencer extending her arms for a hug and Aria following the gesture behind her. As her friends were greeting her, telling her compliments of her apartment, and other 'catching up' phrases, Emily's mental concentration diminishes them to haunting echoes in her ears as all she can hear is her thoughts in the place of their mouths moving in slow motion.

_Oh my god. Oh my god._

_Why didn't they call beforehand?_

_Alison is going to come at any moment._

_This is going to be bad._

_Real bad._

_Like, Jerry Springer bad._

Emily's eyes drift over to Aria who's smiling on about something Emily can't fully comprehend with her lack of attention.

_Especially Aria._

_With the stunt she pulled in Richmond,_

_She's going to escalate this by a thousand._

_Fuck….Think, think, think!_

"…weren't disturbing anything, right?" Aria smirks as her voice goes to the forefront of Emily's ears, bypassing her thoughts.

"Nope." Emily coughs out a nervous laugh as she hears the earlier sounds of Alison's laughter playback in her mind, "Just…doing a whole bunch of…nothing." Emily strained her smile, "But uhmmm…Why-why didn't you guys call?"

"We wanted it to be a surprise. That's why I called ahead." Hanna walks from behind Emily with a chocolate muffin in her hand, "Just to make sure that you were home."

_Oh how the plot will soon thicken…_

"_So_," Aria claps her hands together in excitement, "Are you going to give us a tour of your cozy apartment?"

"Uh-sure!" Emily forces herself to match Aria's chipper attitude with a wide smile, "Yeah!"

"Of course we are." Hanna swoops her hand down to interlock with Emily's, "Let me show you _our_ cozy home."

….

After Emily shows the limited space upstairs with her room, bathroom, and closet, she urges her friends to relax and make themselves at home so she can make a quick trip downstairs to the front desk to handle "a problem with billing".

"Ok, we'll be right here." Aria agrees as she plops down on Emily's soft couch, rubbing her hands on the fabric before hastily stopping. "This….isn't sacred ground is it?"

"Oh, nonono. It's clean. Nobody has been on it." Emily assures her as she unlocks her front door, "And might never be..." She mumbles under her breath before she leaves her apartment.

Dialing Alison's number as she quickly paces down her hallway, Emily puts the phone to her ear just as she sees Alison walking out of opened elevator doors.

"_Thank Goodness. _Quick, turn around." Emily rushes up to Alison, making the blonde apprehensive.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I think it's best if you don't come back to my apartment."

"Why not?"

Emily sighs as she pockets her phone, looking back in the direction of her apartment door, "Aria, Spencer, and Hanna just came over." She fumbles out her words, "I don't know _how_ and _why_ they are here but they are and I haven't told them about….us, yet…" Alison frowns with her eyebrows as she tilts her head to the side, not sure what to make about any of the news Emily is hitting her with. "It's not because I'm ashamed of you!" Emily quickly jumps to her defenses, "It's not that. It's just that…I need the right time to tell them. If we go in there, a replica of Virginia is gonna happen and I don't want that."

"Then don't let it." Alison responds back with sternness in her voice rather than worry as she pierces eye contact with the brunette.

"I'm not! I'm going to tell them, baby. _Today_. I promise you but I just need to set this up." Emily walks up to Alison with her eyes filled with reassurances yet concern as she grabs Alison's hand, "Trust me on this, okay?"

Scanning Emily's whole demeanor, Alison's looks doesn't soften as her own face grew vague and doubtful. Her expression pinches in concentration before she glances down at their hands together, "….Fine."

"Thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" Emily nerves by relieved by an inch as she pulls Alison in for a kiss. Alison draws her head back the moment their lips were about to touch, making Emily open her eyes to find Alison not appeased in the slightest bit. Before Emily could say anything, Alison lets go of her hand and turns around, walking back down the hallway and pushing her way through the stairs' exit instead of using the elevator.

Being left alone in the hallway, hearing the faint laughter of her friends behind her, Emily mentally curses herself before she heads back to her apartment to fix something that could be well received or horribly backfired.

…

As Aria and Spencer chat downstairs, Hanna and Emily are in Emily's room as they sort through the clothes spread about from the bags Hanna beared as gifts.

"_Sooooo_….Did you ever use the lingerie I gave you from last time?" Hanna nosily asks as she sits on Emily's bed like a child waiting for story time.

"No." Emily replies as she hangs up the new clothes in her closet, "It's been sitting pretty in the box it came in,"

"_Ugh_!" Hanna disappointedly throws her hands down on the bed, "One night stands just don't come and go, you need to get some action, Fields." Hanna rolls her eyes before she quickly points back at Emily, "That was Hanna, your friend, saying that. Hanna, your wife, says you touch anyone and I'm going to cut those little fingers off."

Emily lets out a single chuckle before she turns to Hanna, anxiously biting her lip, "Can I talk to Hanna, my friend, for a minute, babe?"

"And she's back." Hanna smiles as she rests her hands in her lap, "What's up?"

Emily looks down before she slowly walks over to her bed, hesitating on the words she wants to use, "..._I did_."

"You did what?"

"I didn't use your lingerie." Emily lowers her voice as she sits on the edge of her bed, facing Hanna, "Well, not yet anyway but… I did have…._one_."

"One what…?" Hanna cocks her head to the side, looking at Emily through the corner of her eye. Hearing the words come out of her mouth, the instant realization kicks with Hanna following Emily lead with lowering her voice, "_You had a one night stand_?" Emily silently nods causing Hanna to gasp out in eagerness before Emily quiets her with a hand to her mouth to stop her from tipping off the other two talking downstairs. "_Okokok_." Hanna pulls down Emily's hand, "Who was she? Or….._he_?" Hanna raises a mischievous eyebrow complimenting her sly smile.

"Shut up, Hanna." Emily rolls her eyes.

"_What_?" Hanna casually shrugs, "We've all gotten hot and heavy with a guy once. _Even you_."

"_Shut up, Hanna!_" Emily reiterates annoyingly again, not wanting to bring up her painful recollections of her first boyfriend, Ben.

"You know what, forget it." Hanna bounces up and down on the bed with elation, "_Dets, please_!"

"I don't know…." Emily sways to the side, purposely withholding any information just to watch Hanna squirm.

"You're going to fucking spill, Emily." Hanna grabs the brunette's arm with a tight grasp, "Either you volunteer the information or I'm going to have to beat it out of you."

"_Okay, okay_! Fine!" Emily yanks out of Hanna's hawk hold with a small laugh, "You can't tell anyone, though. Not a soul."

"It'll die with me." The blonde lifts her hands up, showing Emily her palms, "Was she hot?"

"_Was she_?" Emily furs her brows with her lips pursed, "She _is _hot."

"Yes, yes, keep going!"

"She's a blonde our age…shorter than me…has an amazing sense of fashion, and she has this adorable thing that she does with her lips when she's intently staring at you but trying not to laugh; her dimple shows." Emily hopelessly smile to herself as she recalls the many moments when she had caught such look on Alison's face. A look that she wouldn't mind seeing in her last seconds on earth.

"_OMG_, I'm freaking _squirting_ right now."

"_Hanna_!" Emily gasps, slapping her on the leg, entertained at Hanna's frankness although it's of no surprise.

"_What_!" Hanna pushes Emily back with her eyes widen with interest, "Keep talking!"

"The night we did it, I had a little bit of alcohol in my system. We both did. My job had a victory party for me and I invited her and her friend to come but the entire time, I couldn't take my eyes off her. Throughout that whole night, she was the only person that I saw. She was the only person that mattered in that damn place…."

"– Ok, not to interrupt but this totally sounds like that Justin Timberlake song." Hanna briefly interrupts Emily's storytelling.

"What song?"

"_Tunnel Vision. _You've heard it right?"

Emily's eyes drift to the side as she tries to rack her brain for the song before she shakes her head, "Not that I can recall, no. How does it go?"

Hanna attempts to sing the song with no aspiration of actually singing it but merely talking through it,

"_I…look…around…and every…thing I see is beautiful 'cause all I see is you…  
And I can't deny it. And I stand by it.  
And I won't hide it anymore. A crowded room…anywhere…  
A million people around, all I see is you there, everything just disappears, disappears, disappears, disappears."_

Listening to Hanna sing with the lyrics of the song perfectly matching her feelings towards Alison, Emily questions Hanna the title for a potential future reference. "W-what is that song called again?"

"_Tunnel vision. JT._ Anyways, back to the sex, come on!" Hanna impatiently bounces up and down once again.

"Well to make a long story short, I got _hammered_." Emily stresses the word with a grimace of her eyes, "Like _badly_ and she took me home and we…._we did it_."

Hanna smacks Emily's arm with her mouth left hanging in a smile, "You freaking horny beast. What position did you have her in? Were you passionate and loving or were you just merciless and having fight for her life?"

"Hanna…"

"Wait, you said you couldn't take your eyes off her that night?" Hanna ponders with a stroke of her chin and squinted eyes focusing past Emily, "You probably were lovey dovey. _But…_you were sloshed and your hormones were probably raging _soooo_…." Hanna eyes narrow right back to Emily's with the smug smile to accompany it, "you probably fucked the shit out of her."

"_Hanna_!"

"Just tell me so I can die with closure!" Hanna whines with her head tilted upwards, her arms flailing around as exasperated as she was becoming.

Emily sighs out with her eyes reading over Hanna's face before she mentioned a word, "…..It was lovey dovey."

Hanna groans out of disgust, "You freaking sap,"

"– At first."

Hanna's mouth is left open speechless as a wide grin spreads across her face. "You. Fucking. Savage. _I knew it_!" Hanna slaps Emily's arm again, this time a bit harder than last time causing Emily to rub the spot in pain, "What is her name? Are you guys still talking? When can I see her? Does she live here?"

With the questions that she knew were bound to come up, Emily's mouth worked without making any words, only noises coming out, hesitating to give away Alison's identity.

Hanna picks up on Emily's reluctance and arches her eyebrow in suspicion, "She stopped talking to you? Sex was so good that she rethought her life choices?"

"No, I still talk to her…" Emily's eyes drift downward as her voice lowers again, "I actually…I actually like her a lot."

"Does she like you too?" Hanna asks before Emily nods her head with certainty, "I need to meet her!" Hanna excitedly jumps off the bed, "Take me to her, now!"

Hearing extra feet jog up the stairs, Emily shoots Hanna a look that swears her to secrecy. Hanna silently lifts up her hand to let Emily know that she won't tell anyone before Aria and Spencer walk into Emily's room.

"So we're starving." Aria huffs out as if the stairs were a part of the amazing race, "Is there anywhere good we can go to eat for dinner?"

"_Uhmmm_, why not do we eat here?" Emily rises to her feet as she crosses her arms, "I'll order takeout so we don't have to go somewhere to waste money."

"Yeah and that way we'll have time to catch up." Spencer agrees with a nod.

Emily's face closed in thought as her eyes drifted to the ground, "Yeah, with our new news…..public is probably not the best place to do it…"

…

As the night falls, deciding to not go all out with the food, the girls agree to order pizza and camp out in Emily's living room like old times. They even agree that instead of booking a hotel, they could stay and have a sleep over. Laughing and having a blast for the first time in years since Rosewood, Emily stomach churned with anxiousness as she knew she had to let the cat out of the bag since she promised Alison it was going to be done by the day's end. Waiting for everyone to be in more than happy spirits, Emily jumps head first into the tank full of electrics eels in hopes of coming out alive and untouched.

"So…I'm dating someone…" Emily quietly slips in as she dips her breadstick into the marinara sauce.

"_Really?!"_

"_Who?!_

"_Who?!"_

"I just started dating them recently but we've been around each other for quite some time now." Emily keeps her eyes down at her food instead of the prying eyes above her, "I-I really like her."

"_Who is she?"_

"_Is she pretty?"_

"_What's her name?"_

"It's…." Emily uncomfortably shifts in her sitting position as she felt her mouth begin to become dry, "It's…It's Alison…"

"Alison who?" All three girls ask at the same time, the name not settling in.

"_Alison_." Emily lifts her head up to meet everyone's gazes. "Alison DiLaurentis."

"_What_?!" Aria nearly falls over with the sudden jerk of her neck.

"You're with Alison?" Spencer questions unbelievably with her eyes trying to understand what Emily is saying.

Hanna's eyes dart back and forth in front of her, putting two and two together,

"_**She's a blonde our age…shorter than me…has an amazing sense of fashion, and she has this adorable thing that she does with her lips when she's intently staring at you but trying not to laugh; her dimple shows."**_

"**I'm not like you. I don't have a ton of guys after me at all time. I'm not skinny or perfect like everyone else."**

**Alison shakes her head as she looks down upon Hanna crying, "**_**Oh, honey**_**…" She smirks with her single dimple showing, "That doesn't mean you have to settle for being a cradle robber."**

"**He was nice to me."**

"_**Ugh**_**, **_**please**_**." Alison scoffs with the roll of her eyes as she begins to walk away, "He just wanted to feel your boobs." She gives one last look of disgust, "**_**And you let him**_**." **

"_You fucked Alison_?!" Hanna's once feeling of thrill turns into rage with her new revelation.

"YOU FUCKED ALISON?!" Aria and Spencer question at the same time with Aria's eyes widen, leaning forward towards Emily with the feeling of a blindside.

"What the hell, Hanna!" Emily shoots back at the blonde, "You said you weren't going to say anything!"

"Well that was before I found out it was Alison _DeviL_aurentis! Out of all the fucking girls in Philadelphia!"

"Emily, what is going on?" Spencer still sits in disbelief as everyone around her loses their tops.

"Yes, Emily!" Aria jumps in once again, "What are you doing?!"

"_ENOUGH_!" Emily yells out over everyone as she rises to her feet, her sudden burst silences the whole room. "_This_….! This is _exactly_ why I didn't want to tell you guys this shit earlier!" Emily paces in place with her both her hands running through her hair, "You act like I'm committing a crime!"

"Yeah. A crime of betrayal against our friendship." Aria responds back with a snarl.

"Shut up, Aria!" Emily singles out the smaller brunette like a mother disciplining her child, "I'm telling you and have _been _telling you guys that she's a different person now! And I won't stand here and allow you guys to bash her." Emily jabs her finger downwards in anger as she stands in front of her friends sitting on the couch, "If she wasn't a changed person, do you _honestly_ think I would associate with her? I swear, telling you guys this is worse than coming out to my parents." Emily shakes her head with frustration as she paces back and forth, "With them, at least I knew that there would be a chance that they wouldn't support me and be angry with me but _you guys_? You guys are my best friends! People that I can tell anything without judgement and know that'll have my support!" Emily stresses to the other girls with her eyes filled with sadness although she told herself not to cry since she's trying to drive a point home, "Do you know how much this pained me? That I couldn't tell my friends, _my sisters_, that I am dating someone because I knew there would be an aftermath like this?!"

Emily turns away from the girls to catches her breath as she feels her blood boiling at the situation she's found herself in. Taking in a deep breath in, Emily returns back with her attitude cooled for the sake of her neighbors, "She was here and left before you guys came. _Literally minutes._ I'm surprised you guys didn't run into each other in the lobby."

"Luckily we didn't." Hanna's attitude comes out full force, catching Emily's attention, "You should be thankful for that."

A cleft formed between Emily's eyebrows as the skin around her eyes drew tight in Hanna's direction. "_Seriously_?"

"Yes, _seriously_." Hanna mocks Emily's tone and expression.

"And please _explain to me_ what you were gonna do if you _did_ see her?" Emily challenges the blonde as she walks over in front of her. Hanna scrunches up her face in detestation as she checks Emily up and down in complete silence. "Speak up, Hanna." Emily's voice sternly sounds as crosses her arms.

"Or what?" Not liking Emily towering over her, Hanna stands up and faces Emily eye to eye, "You're going to beat me up on behalf of your _little girlfriend_? What are you? Her bodyguard? She can't handle her own battles?"

"_For what_?" Emily narrows her eyes at Hanna as the blonde steps to her, "So we can have a repeat of Virginia all over again? Which, I just want to express how _fucked _up you guys were that day." Emily moves her face away from Hanna's and sets her sights on Aria and Spencer, "_ALL_ of you. I _hated_ that shit. I was literally embarrassed to have you guys as friends. You guys made her feel really fucking bad when y'all ousted her like that."

"Oh boo-_fucking_-hoo. Cry me a river and jump off the damn bridge," Hanna ridicules once again, causing Emily to look back at her, "The princess of hell couldn't take a dose of her own medicine, let's all weep for the little baby."

"_Hanna_-" Emily lowers her eyes as she drops her voice in a warning.

"I just want to know how you expect us to put on smiles, sit around the campfire and sing kumbaya with each other after everything she put us through, Emily." Spencer speaks up to voice her opinion and to also prevent a brawl from breaking out, "What if we gotten someone you didn't like from way back…let's say….Ben-or-or _Jenna_." Emily steps away from Hanna with Hanna sitting back down as Spencer comes up with a person from Emily's past that she knew would strike a chord with her, "Let's say we became best friends with Jenna and brought her over to _our_ functions? You wouldn't fake your feelings, I know you."

Emily sighs as she shakes her head, "_Listen_. She is not the same Alison from Rosewood, okay? _Yes_! I get the shit she's put you guys through," Emily points at Spencer, "Giving you hell with Melissa," She points at Aria, "Getting in the middle of your parent's divorce when it wasn't her place to," Emily turns to Hanna, "Making fun of you during your weight gain days, but I-"

"How can you be friends with someone like that let alone shack up with them?" Hanna shakes her head in disbelief with no break in eye contact with Emily, "You know how much she hurt me, how much she humiliated me. Those nights when you had to hold me until I cried myself to sleep because of what that bitch did to me. But it's all water under the bridge for you!" Hanna laughs out of taunt, "Because you have a love boner for her and expect me-for all of us to hop on board."

Feeling backed into a corner, Emily stands in front of her friends stunned, looking at each of their faces. "You guys would always joke about how if one of us committed a crime, we'd all hide the body and bail each other out. You guys would be accomplices for murder but can't support the person I'm dating?" Emily voice begins to break as she sees the reality of everything. Seeing that her ideal sit down would have a few confusing moments along with clarifications but ultimately in the end, they'd give Alison a chance. However, realizing that everyone harped on her once again and her nearly getting into a fight with Hanna, Emily can't hold back her hurt as much as she was trying to do before.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Everyone's eyes shift in the direction of the front door as Emily bows her head and pinches the bridge of her nose in weariness.

"Tell me that's not her, Emily." Aria cautions as she looks back at the brunette.

"….I invited her over because I thought we could have a fresh start." Emily sighs out as she blinks the potential tears away, "I _want_ us to have a fresh start, guys."

Not giving any more wasted time, Hanna gets up and starts collecting her things that were placed in the corner of the living room by Emily's entertainment center, "Wh-" Emily glances over at her friend quickly putting herself together, "Where are you going, Hanna?"

"I'm booking myself a hotel for the night because I might just choke the bitch if I see her longer than two seconds." Hanna coldly responds as she throws on her jacket and fluffs her hair into place.

"Hanna, please don't do this." Emily calls with a cracking voice out as Hanna bends down to put on her thigh high boots, ignoring Emily's pleas, "You don't even have to talk just…let's at least try, _please_."

Fully ready, Hanna swings her purse over her shoulders, walks towards the front door, unlocks it and swings it open to, in-fact, show a surprised Alison standing on the other side. Hanna stares her down with a face of disgust before she marches past her.

"I'm sorry, Emily," Aria stands up as well, making Emily's face double over in dismay, "I'm with Hanna on this one." Emily watches Aria grab her things and walk towards the door before she looks over her shoulder at Spencer. "C'mon, Spencer."

With a tear falling, Emily turns her head at her only remaining childhood friend left on the couch. "_Please, Spencer_." Emily softly begs as her eyes become blurry under the wanting burst of emotions, "Don't leave me. I-I need you here." Emily voice finally gives in as she begins to cry, pleading her case to her last and only hope, "Do this for me Spencer, please."

"Spencer, let's go!" Hanna calls out from the apartment hallway behind Alison with the jingle of keys, "You're driving!"

Spencer looks up at Emily with the brunette wiping her face as she looks at her with dejected, dark eyes that could haunt her in her dreams. Spencer clenches her jaw and looks down the hall at Alison standing at the door. With the looks of her not knowing what to do with her face or her body, the weight of Alison's shadow was enough to drag her down as her face crumpled into a regretful frown. Getting irritated at the hesitation, Hanna moves in front of Alison, ignoring her presence, "C'mon, Spencer! Are you coming or what?"

Spencer glances back over at Emily with a deep breath, "I'm staying." She gives a firm answer back, "And you guys should too."

Hanna scoffs at Spencer's response, "I have the keys, I'm leaving." Hanna turns away back to Aria waiting in the hallway, "Let's go, Aria." The two girls walk down the hallway and towards the stair exit as Alison watches them disappear from sight.

With the intensity of the room dwindling down extremely, Spencer rubs the back of her neck, "Come on, Alison." Spencer waves Alison inside of Emily's apartment as she stands onto her feet. She shoves her hands into her pockets and looks over at Emily whose lips tremble into a joyful smile.

"_Thank you_."

**:O**


	22. Chapter 22: Night of New Beginnings

**Sooorry guys for the wait! My term ended and I was dealing with some hardcore assignments. On the bright side, guess who made the Provost's list for this fall? :D For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it's like the Dean's list or college's version of the Honor Roll. It is very possible to maintain your GPA and write 4 fanfics at once. You just have to have no life! :D *Does the roger rabbit dance***

**Anyways, here is your beloved chapter! Over 8,000 words just for you guys. Because you **_**earneeed it.**_

**#EmisonIn6B? PLL don't you lie to us again, I cannot take it anymore. I also found it funny that Emily is a bartender in the time-jump lmao. Let me write the show, Marlene. **

CHAPTER #22: Night of New Beginnings

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **_**Italicized Bold is a flashback within a flashback.**_(….) is an indication that time has passed.

"Come in, Alison."

Looking down the hallway one last time at where Hanna and Aria once stood, Alison slowly makes her way into Emily's apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. Spencer rises to her feet and stands alongside Emily as makes her entrance into the lightly dimmed living room, "Hi, Alison."

"Hello, Spencer." Alison responds with a soft greeting before her eyes immediately find Emily's face, seeing the brunette turn her head to the side and wipe her tears away with her backhand in hope of the blonde not seeing. Alison's heart saddens and her eyebrows frown at the sight of Emily's crying as she walks over towards her to comfort her. Alison lifts a hand to touch Emily but the brunette quickly recovers with a laugh.

"I'm okay." She smiles as she holds Alison's hand, forcing her voice to be strong, "I'm fine."

From her strained smile to her subtle red eyes, Alison examines over Emily's face with unease. Never has she ever seen Emily so emotional. It's as if the only versions of Emily she's ever came in contact with were the happy, eager, concerned, soothing, nurturing, and sometimes sexual side of Emily but never the sensitive version. Only seeing it once and how unforgettable it was, Alison never wanted to see Emily brought to that state ever again. Emily takes her eyes away from Alison and looks at Spencer, Alison's eyes following also to the other girl, Spencer awkwardly looks down at the food in front of her.

"Hungry for some pizza?"

….

"So, how did you guys meet again?" Spencer asks as she bites off a piece of her pizza, sitting next to Emily and Alison on the couch as they all eat a slice.

Emily swallows down and glances over to Alison with a knowing smile, "I was walking the crosswalk towards Lush cosmetics after work she almost ran me over."

"What?!" Spencer chokes on her pizza as she laughs at the explanation she never saw coming. Emily giggles along as Alison buries her smiling face behind her hands. "Well, that's definitely a story worth telling people."

"Yeah and I cursed her out too." Emily places a hand on Alison's lap as she continues to laugh at the flashback, "I was pissed walking into the store. Then, minutes later, she came in to assist me before apologizing for it. That's when I actually saw her, like actually _looked_ at her face." Emily glances over at Alison with a soft smile as the blonde still has her face in her hands, "I recognized her immediately. She didn't recognize me straightaway but she eventually got there."

Alison slides her hand down, exposing her rosy, blushed face, "That is such an embarrassing story." She laughs as she shook her head, looking down.

With Emily laughter still filling the room, Spencer's smile fades as she looks at Alison. "How long have you lived here, Alison?" She asks on a more personal level, "Do you like Philadelphia?"

"Uhm, three years." Alison slowly nods her head as she reaches for her drink on the coffee table in front of them, "I moved right after graduation. Found a school, a job, and a place to stay and just have been trying to make things work ever since."

"What do you go to school for?"

"Fashion."

"Oh," Spencer pouts her lips impressively as she nods, "Just like Hanna."

Emily disapprovingly shakes her head, looking down at her slice before she takes another bite, "I wish Han would have stayed. She could have at least helped you get on your feet with internships." Emily raises her eyes up to Alison's, "Like with pointers and stuff."

"Yeah, well...I don't blame her for leaving. Aria neither." Alison replies with her sense of guilt coming in to ruin everything. To ruin the fine moment they had.

"Well, I do. They're my best friends. We're supposed to stick together no matter what the situation. How they ran out like that..." Emily shakes head as she looks up at the ceiling, offended and hurt glimmering in her eyes, "I would have _never_ done that to them. _Ever_."

Changing her sights from Emily to Spencer, Alison braces herself for the conversation they were about to dive into, "Why did you stay, if you don't mind me asking?"

Spencer takes in a deep breath as she sets down her drink on the coffee table and dusts off her pants, "Because I know how it feels to like someone that most didn't approve of." She responds looking Alison in the eye as Emily peers over at Spencer, catching her attention, "Nobody liked Toby in the beginning. He was a '_juvenile'_, '_weird'_, '_an outsider'_. And for a moment, I believed it too...until I actually talked to him. And it took a minute for people to warm up to the idea of us but being with him, that's when I knew everything was wrong. Everything people said about him was _so wrong_. He's the most kindest soul that would bend over backwards for people he doesn't even know. He's intelligent and skillful...none of which the stigmas that were placed on him were true. It was the complete opposite."

"And that my fault," Alison drifts her eyes to the side, avoiding eye contact with the brunette, "Those accusations against him. I really do regret it, Spencer." The blonde begins forcing her eyes to hold Spencer's once again, "I regret everything I did back then. It was vile and distasteful and if I could go back, I would do everything over. But I can't. So all I could do is try to make things right with everyone now. Spencer, I know out of everyone, we weren't the closest of people. I outed you, made Melissa hate you _and_ me, knew about your personal problems and made it harder for you...I can't apologize enough for making those years hell but I hope that we can move past everything and start something new."

Spencer eyes flicker towards Emily whose eyes sag down with distress and hope, anticipating that Spencer will accept Alison's apology. The silent air stiffens the room between the three girls as everyone awaits Spencer's response, "One thing I love about Emily is that she sees the good in everybody. Sometimes I don't understand how she could but she does." Spencer responds to Alison while keeping her eyes latched onto Emily's as if they had their own secret silent language between each other, "Ever since we've seen Emily at the championships, one thing I noticed is that she always defends you." Spencer's sights switches to Alison's pair of blue eyes, "_Every time._ Every time you were brought up, she would defend you like you were the only thing she had. _Every. Time._ And _yes_, it baffles everyone." Spencer forces out a laugh as se adjusts her sitting position to sit more upright, looking down at her hands for her next set of words, "Like….how could you be so..._protective_ over someone who lacks emotion? Someone who loves to see people in pain, anguish, and wants people to worship the ground she walks on? Someone who, if you challenge her, will make it her mission in life to ruin you?" Spencer shakes her head in confusion as she glances up at Emily and Alison who both wear a similar face of gloom and regret. "But, damn, Alison…" Spencer lowers her voice as she tilts her head to the side, looking at Alison with slight admiration, "She _defends_ you with _every. breath_. The same way I would defend Toby or any of the girls, the way the girls would defend us and their boyfriends. Before you came, Emily was-" Spencer peeks a look at Emily who looked like she was trying to hold back tears with a gentle light in her face that encouraged her to keep going, "I don't know how long you guys have been around each other or what you guys feel about one another but I can tell you one thing, Emily really cares about you, Alison. And since she cares about you…" Spencer bites the inside of her bottom lip as she slowly nods to herself, "I'm willing to try to mend things between us. Being that we share a brother…I think it's the least thing we could do."

"_Thank you_." Alison sighs out relieved as her head bowed, folding her hands together out of gratification, "Thank you so much, Spencer."

Spencer looks at Emily who is overfilled with joy, causing Spencer to smile and look down at the coffee table, grabbing another slice of pizza, "To new beginnings." She raises her pizza.

"To new beginnings!" Emily and Alison toast with a raise of their drinks and slices. The three girls laugh as they continue to enjoy their night. Seeing that they didn't have much to talk about the past and reminisce, they focused on what's happening in their lives right now. Each girl has their own time to explain what they've been up to since graduation and the conversations came with nothing but support and laughter. From telling stories to reenacting their life experiences, Emily and Spencer try their best to make Alison feel included in everything and give her a voice to speak through. As much as she thought this was going to go left, everything was sailing smoothly for Alison.

…

"I know Em has plenty but…what are some horror stories you have from working in retail, Alison?" Spencer asks the blonde after talking about her current college experience.

Alison clears her throat, being caught off guard as she's put in the spotlight. She looks to Emily who gives her an encouraging smile before she starts her story-telling. "Well, I mean every day in retail is a horror story but there was this one time where things just really got out of hand." Emily and Spencer grin, making themselves comfortable as they sip their drinks. "Now before I worked at Lush, I was working at Bed Bath &amp; Beyond for a while-"

"_Wait a minute._" Emily interrupts Alison's story-time, "Bed and Bath? You've never told me this."

"_Trust me._ There is a reason why I just want to erase that store from my existence." Spencer silently giggles to herself as Alison continues on, "It was that faithful morning of Black Friday that I will never forget…."

**Alison looks at the time on her phone as she grabs a cup for the coffee brewed in the breakroom. **_**4:35am**_**.**

"**Do you see that damn line outside?" Elsie, one of Alison's coworkers, walks into the break room where she and a few other employees camped out. "It's 28 degrees with freezing winds and people are actually standing out there. **_**With their children.**_** I will never fucking understand Black Friday."**

"Now basically everyone had to come in, of course, to help with the rush. Doors open at 5am so it was all hands on deck. Aside from electronics, house items are the second biggest thing people want during Black Friday." Alison shrugs sarcastically, "Who would have guessed that?"

**Alison pours herself a cup of fresh, hot coffee to help stimulate her brain. This was her first ever time working on the chaotic post-thanksgiving holiday and she's heard enough horror stories for her to not want to even be present in the store. It didn't help that her thanksgiving dinner ended horribly so if it's working within a crazy crowd to keep her mind preoccupied, so be it. **

"_**Where are you going, Alison?"**_

"_**I'm…I…" Alison stammers as she gets up from the kitchen table, fumbling with trying to push her chair in, "I-uh-I have to work for Black Friday so…I'm-I'm just going to go home and catch some sleep before I have to…" Alison's unsteady hands rub the side of her face, "before I have to work."**_

"_**Do you have to work tonight? Why can't you just call in and tell them that-"**_

"_**I have to go, dad." Alison spins around to face her father, trying her hardest to hold back her tears. "We all know that you just can't call in. Especially last minute.**_**" **_**Alison finds a taste of irritation in her voice, explaining through her dad's ignorance.**_

_**Kenneth sits dumbfounded at the head of his table, looking at the Thanksgiving dinner that went awry as Alison puts on her coat and collects her keys. "Alison," He calls out for his daughter hallway towards the front door.**_

_**With a hand on the doorknob, Alison pauses and looks over her shoulder, "I'll text you when I reach." Without any other second to spare, Alison opens the door and leaves her house that once was a home to her. Now, it's just a structure with faint memories of how things used to be. **_

"**You know they're supposedly boycotting Black Friday this year?" A coworker begins as she leans back in her chair at the eating table, "Everyone is up in arms about all the racial injustice, police brutality, and the ignored attention from the media that they plan on boycotting everything retail."**

"**So let them do it." Austin's thick and smooth native Philadelphia accent breaks through the room with his non-caring shrug, "The last thing we need is the greedy bastards sitting on the higher ups of these corporations getting more money. Hit them where it hurts. Don't buy anything." Austin takes a sip of his coffee, "But if they try to hijack my computer before I'm through Cyber Monday, shit will get real." Austin chuckles along with the laughter of the other employees. **

"**Nobody's boycotting **_**shit**_**." Another worker steps in for his two cents, "If they did, profits would decline, inventory piles up, and more workers than usual would face post-holiday layoffs. We all have bills to pay. Y'all can complain all you want but when your ass is out of a job, you can't say nothing then."**

**Alison stands around, listening to the talk of the room as she sips on her coffee before worker pops his head through the door.**

"**Hey, Ali. Could I see you for a sec?"**

"Now there was this guy named Julian who worked there. Puerto Rican guy who was a few years older than me. Out of everyone at the job, I liked him the most because he was an overall cool guy to be around."

"Did you _like_ him? Was he cute?" Spencer breaks the story with peering, curious eyes and a small smile.

"Uhmm? _Hello_?" Emily waves her hands in front of her with her eyebrows pinched, "Dating." Emily waves her hands in-between herself and Alison, "Don't want to hear that."

"Please, this was before you." Spencer scoffs, ignoring Emily, "So was he cute?"

"Anyways," Alison laughs as she looks over at Emily who has her eyes narrowed at Spencer, "He pulled me out of the break room to talk to me."

"**Hey, Ali."**

"**Hey, Julian. What's up?"**

"**So I know that you got the floor this morning but I'm kind of lacking bodies in the back and need an extra hand." Julian begins to explain, catching Alison's attention, "I talked to Madison about stealing one or two of you guys and you're the only person I really trust to be back there so….what do you say?" He crosses his muscular, golden tan arms with a hopeful smile to add to the deal, "You won't do much. I'll show you the ropes. It'll be easy and less chaotic then it will be here."**

"An opportunity to not work the floor and avoid a massive headache from the crowd?" Alison raises her eyebrows in excitement, "It was a miracle sent from the heavens. So all I had to do is help with the inventory and taking big ticket items to the back where we just loaded them into the customer's car instead of going to the front."

"Alison being all handsy?" Emily giggles with her imagination of Alison doing hard labor, "Never thought I would see the sight."

"Hey, I would rather be behind the scenes in the back then to deal with people trading blows over bed sets." Alison defends herself as she leans over and grabs her soda from the table. She takes a quick drink before she continues on. "Everything was perfect. Just doing a set thing and sticking to it. I was enjoying it."

**Alison takes her pen and twirls it around in fingers as she slowly checks over the stock in her aisle for a product that was saved for a customer. **

"That was until someone decided it was a perfect idea to walk into the back and just start opening things as if it was a store, picking out whatever they liked."

**Alison cocks her head at the stranger before approaching him, "Uhm, sir? Only authorized personal is allowed back here." **

"**I'm just looking around." The man replies, still opening the products for his likings.**

**Alison looks around for help before she tries to be as polite as possible to the confused shopper, "Sir-Sir you can't do that. Do you have something that you're supposed to be receiving?"**

"After that jackass came in, other shoppers saw him digging and thought it was a free-for-all. Before I knew it, a whole crowd of people waddled like a penguin heard inside like they just found a hidden treasure chest."

Emily bursts out into laughter with Spencer throwing her head back in hilarity. "Oh my gosh. What happened afterwards? Did you get in trouble?"

"_Trouble_? I was too busy wrestling with people to get in trouble."

"You got into a fight?!" Emily gasps with her eager smile covering half of her face.

"I was tussling with this woman who was trying to take a Dyson vacuum! The other workers were trying to shoo them out but they were all like-"

"**There is nothing that says we can't come back here!"**

"So you had like 10 people just taking apart cases, looking at the products and tossing them like they were children during Christmas. All during that, somebody took my sandwich!"

Spencer and Emily lean on each other for support as their sides ache from the story. From the delivery to Alison's facial expressions, Emily wipes tears away from her eyes as Spencer crouches over, holding herself.

"Then after the little stint of working back there, later in the day, I went back onto the main floor and these two grandmas start fighting each other for the last _waffle maker_." Alison hissings while Emily and Spencer tried to uphold themselves, "I swear it was a senior version of roller derby without the skates. They were only moving five miles per hour but I was so scared that one of them was going fall and break their hip. It was the slowest but deadliest fight I've ever seen. The first grandma just whacked the other grandma with her cane and called her a _fucking bitch_. She called her a fucking bitch! I mean, her voice stammered a bit and it took her a while to say it but she called her that!"

Emily and Spencer howl in laughter again, this time harder than before. Emily starts a round of coughing as Spencer laugh becomes so deep that you could hear her wheezing.

"Ali…Ali…" Emily reaches out for Alison's hand as she tries to catch her breath, "Please stop. No more."

"I'm glad you guys find humor in UFC: elderly women." Alison smirks as she pushes Emily's hand away, "Over a WAFFLE MAKER!"

…

"There is this one game I played at a small party I went to not too long ago. It's called _If You Know What I Mean_." Spencer brings her feet into her as she eagerly repositions herself on the couch, "It's a game where two people are given a scene or situation and they go back and forth trading remarks ending with the phrase "_if you know what I mean_." Whoever runs out of vaguely sexual-sounding phrases first has to drink."

"Oh God…" Alison giggles as she flashes a look at Emily who is already onboard with the game, rubbing her hands together devilishly.

"C'mon bartender." Spencer tries to lazily push Emily off the couch with a whine in her voice, "I know you have some alcoholic beverages in that dollhouse of yours. _Hook us up!_" Emily laughs as she lets Spencer shove her to her feet. She runs a hand through her hair, combing it to the side while walking over to her open kitchen. "Little known fact, Alison," Spencer leans over to the blonde in a not so secretive voice, "Em's home bar is lovingly referred to as her _dollhouse_. From what she tells me, she brings home a couple of bottles every other week and constantly rearranges them. Hence, her playing with her dolls. She names them and everything."

Alison squints her eyes with her mouth parted open in an amused manner before she looks back at Emily crouching down into her mini bar. "Dollhouse, hm? That's a very interesting comparison."

"_Yep_. Our Emily is an alcoholic. Who would of known?"

"You know it's not nice to whisper about someone. Especially if they can hear you." Emily calls out as she cracks open her liter of Country Time Lemonade, pouring some into each three of the glasses set in front of her.

"We're just talking about how much of a drunk you are!" Spencer calls back making Alison laugh to herself, "What happened to the innocent Emily we all knew?"

"She was left back in Rosewood. _Philly isn't for the weak_." Emily imitates in her best adapted Philly accent as she walks back over to the girls with three glasses in her hands. She hands out the drinks before taking her seat next to Alison, "So, how we are gonna go about this game?"

"Okay. So you and Alison are gonna go first." Spencer explains as she begins to get comfortable, "I'm going to give you a scene and you have to make a conversation with every phrase you say ending in '_if you know what I mean'_. First person to run out has to take a drink. _Soooo_, that means get up and stand in front of the crowd of one." Emily and Alison exchange brief glances before they stand up and stand in front of Spencer as told. "Okay, so you two are at a…..you two are in a classroom. You're in a classroom at uni. Take it away!"

Alison and Emily awkwardly stand there, looking at each other with goofy smiles, not knowing how to start the game. Emily clears her throat with a sentence in mind.

"I'm ready for the professor's oral course, _if you know what I mean_."

Alison chokes out a laugh as Spencer chokes on a cheese stick with Emily's sly grin of success spreading on her face.

"_Emily_!" Alison looks at the brunette with an amazed yet tickled gasp.

"No, keep going!" Spencer waves down the duo with excitement, "Alison, go!" Alison stands stunned, not sure of what to say after Emily's starting sentence. Trying to come up with something only to sound with nothing, Alison's thoughts are interrupted by Spencer's voice. "Time's up. Alison take a drink." Emily and Spencer laugh as Alison covers her face with her hand. She looks down at her light yellow/brownish tinted drink in her glass.

"What is this?"

"Don't worry about it." Emily smirks with a nudge of her elbow, "Drink it."

Alison raises the glass to her lips as she takes a tasting sip of the alcohol. She takes in the flavor for a brief moment before taking a small mouthful. "_Ah_," she grimaces with her eyes closed. "Ok, ok. I got this." She shakes off the nerves as she readies herself, "I want a redo."

"Ok. You guys are in…. an office this time_. Aaaaaand_ go!"

"Sorry I'm late. My meeting went a little long, _if you know what I mean_." Alison puts out the first sentence of the second game making Emily beam in amusement.

"Well I'm glad you're here," Emily struggles to talk with laughter still trickling with every word, "My computer needs a little tune-up, _if you know what I mean_."

"Ah, yes." Alison responds with a serious, 'acting' face, "Last time I checked, your hard-drive seemed to have taken a beating, _if you know what I mean."_

"Well, I'm having a little problem with my ram this time, _if you know what I mean."_

"Well, isn't it a good thing I'm here to assist you, _if you know what I mean?_"

"I can't do this!" Emily spits out as she turns in the opposite direction away from Alison's sly look. "I lose. I give up."

"_Nonono!_" Spencer jumps up with urgency, "Keep going! Don't end it there!"

Emily tries to look back at Alison but finds a hard time especially with everything having such a heavy double meaning. She's not sure if she can last playing the game without feeling a certain type of way. Taking in a breather, Emily gets the bravery to face Alison once again, "Have you seen our new interns? I had to interview all of them to see if they're right for the job, _if you know what I mean_."

Alison puts a friendly hand on Emily's shoulder, "Oh no kidding! There's this one intern, Mike? He sure does have impressive customer service skills, _if you know what I mean."_

Emily bursts out a laugh, rendering her ability to hold herself once again. Alison and Spencer both join in the laughter knowing that Alison hit a knockout with that last remark. Emily voluntarily takes a gulp from her drink, knowing that she can't compete against Alison during this round.

_This is going to be a hard night, if you know what I mean._

…

"Ok, you guys are in a bakery, doing the daily duties of the shop."

Alison pretends to roll out dough in front of her, looking at Emily with a tilt of her neck, "It's been a while since my dough has been pounded, _if you know what I mean."_

Spencer lets out a small shriek as she hides her face behind of Emily's sofa cushions leaving only her bouncing shoulders to be visible. Emily tries to ignore Spencer, keeping her face as straight as possible as she looks over Alison's shoulder.

"Wow. Your donut holes are pretty tight, _if you know what I mean._"

"I don't know about that but, uhm," Alison takes a peek behind Emily before going back to her dough rolling, "Your buns look pretty firm, _if you know what I mean."_

"Oh, dammit." Emily sighs as she looks at her imaginary dough in front of her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"My dough is starting to rise, _if you know what I mean."_

Looking into Emily's eyes, Alison tries to keep herself from laughing but can't seem to open her mouth. She stands there hopeless, turning red as she presses her lips inward, "….I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Emily corrects herself as she keeps her serious face on, "Well...Maybe you want to lick the spoon, _if you know what I mean."_

All control leaves Alison as she bursts out in laughter, unable to look Emily in the face nor continue with the game. Spencer falls over on the couch, holding her side as she has a fit of her own from Emily's comeback. "Yeah I think we should stop." Alison states out as she takes a drink of her glass. "Emily won, I….I can't." Alison continues to laugh, keeping her eyes on Spencer, not daring to look at Emily. The winning brunette chuckles to herself as she takes her own sip of her drink, feeling the sensation of a champion.

…

"Alright, well, I'm going to take a shower." Spencer informs Emily as she grabs her belongings and heads towards Emily's stairs to get ready to turn it in for the night, "Probably also check on the girls to see if they're still awake."

"Okay. That's cool. I'm just gonna clean up down here." Emily responds as picks up the empty pizza box and begins to fold it down to throw away.

"Hey, I had a good time, Alison." Spencer stops halfway up the stairs, "It was really nice to talk to you."

"You too, Spencer." Alison smiles at the brunette with a small wave, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Spencer smiles back before disappearing upstairs into Emily's room.

Making sure Spencer was completely gone, Alison walks over towards Emily washing out her glasses before putting them back in their place. "Tonight was fun." The blonde remarks as she leans her side against the counter. "I really enjoyed it."

Emily looks back at her with a smile as she dries her hands, "I'm glad you had a good time. That's all I wanted for tonight. A good time."

"Seemed like _you_ were having yourself a good time, huh?" Alison smirks as she crosses her arms. "My dough is starting to rise, _if you know what I mean? _Maybe you want to lick the spoon, _if you know what I mean?"_

Emily cannot contain the smile on her face as she slowly saunters towards Alison, "I couldn't help myself. You left yourself wide open, _if you know what I mean._" Emily softly chuckles as Alison smacks her arm. The brunette places her hands around Alison's hips and brings her closer to her, "Is it bad that I kinda got turned on during the game?" Emily whispers making sure her words doesn't float up towards Spencer. "Because if Spencer wasn't spending the night, you definitely would be." Emily murmurs, placing a soft kiss on Alison's cheek. Alison tries to stop Emily but the brunette persistence overpowers her. "I mean, she_ is_ going in the shower. That's like what? 10-15 minutes?" Emily voice drops as she starts to caress the small of Alison's back, "You know what we could do in 10-15 minutes?" She whispers the question into Alison's neck before she gives her another gentle kiss, "We could do a lot."

"Stop." Alison laughs as she winces from Emily's ticklish kisses, "Seriously…stop."

"You still owe me from earlier today, don't think I forgot." Emily bites her lip as she looks at Alison seductively, "I _never_ forget." Emily raises a hand to Alison's face and pulls her in for a sweet and gentle kiss, her soft lips presses against Alison's with slow closed mouth pecks. Alison parts her mouth open slightly, giving Emily the green light to slip her tongue in, bringing her other hand to caress the side of Alison's face. Emily slowly but prominently shows her greed for the blonde, making Alison stagger a few steps backwards, having her back pressed against the counter as Emily glides her mouth over Alison's bottom lip.

"_Okay, okay_…" Alison mutters into the kiss as she gently puts a hand on Emily's chest, trying to get her to stop before they get carried away. Seeing her attempts being stopped once again, Emily groans, resting her forehead against Alison's as she presses her body into hers. Emily's hands find themselves caressing Alison's side, not wanting to move from their position. "I think it's time-" Alison tries to say her goodbyes but is cut off with a small peck from Emily's pouty lips. "_Emily_."

"Yes, baby?"

"I have to go."

"No you don't." Emily softly whines through her pout.

"Yes I do. You know I do." Alison responds as she cups Emily's face. Feeling the rising and fall breathing of Emily's chest against hers, Alison stands there along with her brunette, not in a rush to leave although she knows she should.

"Are you going to miss me when you leave?" Emily quietly asks as her fingers begin to tug on the fabric of Alison's top.

"_Mhmmm_," Alison bites her lip as she gazes down at Emily's lip hovering next to hers. 'I'll always miss you."

"I want you to text me when you reach your apartment, Ok?"

"Ok."

The two girls continue to stand close onto one another against the kitchen counter with Emily making soft and lazy patterns on the skin of Alison's side underneath her shirt. Not saying anything but focused on each other's breathing, Alison leans in for another gentle kiss. Their lips linger on each other's for a few seconds before they pull apart.

"I need you…" The husked simple three words float ever so innocently out of Emily's mouth and melts into Alison's ears giving her instant chills. She closes her eyes as Emily gives her another small kiss.

_I need you._

The way Emily said it made Alison forget everything that ever came across her mind at that moment. Her goosebumps still covered her skin as she thought about the reality of both of them right then and there. Whispering to each other, standing inside of dark kitchen with the only light coming in from a soft blue haze glowing from the mini bar Emily had added for her night atmosphere.

"I need you, Alison. I…I…" Emily mouth lingers over Alison's as she tries to find her words, being distracted by Alison's lips, "I _crave_ you so much right now..." Alison's fingers stroke the back of Emily's neck as her eyes slowly flicker open to see Emily's big brown eyes already gazing at her. No words. No facial expressions. Just her eyes looking deeply at Alison, as if she was trying to seek out the deepest, most vulnerable part of Alison's soul. Alison stares back at Emily, trying to match the same intensity. Trying to read her through the gaze. As the girls focus on each other, a loud ringtone disrupts the entire aura of the apartment as Spencer's phone goes off up in Emily's room. The abrupt sound takes Alison right out of the trance she once was in as she realizes where she is.

"….I'll text you later, ok?" Alison regrettably whispers as she begins to unwrap herself off of Emily.

"You promise?" Emily holds her hips from moving away from her, waiting for Alison's confirmation.

"I promise."

Loosening her grip but not completely letting go, Alison extends her arms across the counter and reaches for her keys as Emily still holds onto her. Her hand slide up into Alison's free hand and interlaces them while Alison makes her way out of the kitchen and to the front door. Instead of having their last salutations at the door, Emily continues to follow Alison out into the apartment hallway and down to the elevator. Alison presses the downwards arrow button before she turns around to face Emily again. Not having much to say, Alison tilts her head to the side as she lets out a sigh, gently massaging her thumb across the back of Emily's hand. They stand there in complete silence until the ding of the elevator signals the opening of the doors.

"Goodnight, Emily."

"Goodnight, Alison."

They separate their intertwined fingers as Alison steps into the elevator and presses the lobby floor. She keeps her eyes on Emily until the doors close in-between them, leaving Emily by herself in the hallway. Emily continues to stare at the elevator doors as they travel downwards with a subtle frown on her face for a few moments before she turns around and heads back into her apartment.

….

Emily opens her fridge door and pulls out a cold bottle of water, cracking it open for a sip, reminiscing while walking to her living room. She lays down with her back against the soft upholstery, her arm draping over her forehead as she taps her fingers on the plastic bottle. She replays the moments from the night over in her head as if her life was a show on Netflix and she was just going through and re-watching her favorite scenes from her favorite episodes. Seeing Alison face brighten up as the night carried on is the only thing Emily could think about. Seeing the transition in her was like watching a flower blossom through a time-lapse. When it finally blooms and shows its beauty of a shape and colors, it could light up an entire room, make any black and white picture sprout color, and cause any naysayer bite their tongue. Hearing her quiet giggles and abrupt laughter is a song that she could keep on repeat for the rest of her life. Feeling the warmth inside her, Emily's mind also drifts off to her friends who refused to see that side of Alison. The side that she begs for people to see. The side that she fell for. Sighing to herself, Emily takes another sip of her water bottle before letting her arm hang off the couch. Silently laying in her dark lower level apartment, Emily lets the quietness of her place dance with her thoughts with the slow closing of her eyes.

…

"Emily?"

Spencer's voice waves into Emily's ear, waking her up from a quick shut eye.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I use your charger? Hanna took mines earlier today and I never got it back."

"Yeah, no problem." Emily sits up straight and hops off the couch, walking towards her stairs to her room. She walks into the sight of Spencer freshly changed, towel drying her hair with her things put nicely to the side. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, Aria called me while I was shower. I have yet to call back."

"Are you?" Emily points to Spencer's phone with her water bottle, "Gonna call them back?"

"Yeah. Make sure they're not doing anything reckless." Spencer replies, setting the towel down and folding it to put away, "I can almost guarantee you that they're somewhere within the city."

"_Really_?" Emily cocks her head to the side as she takes a seat at the edge of her bed, "What makes you think that?'

Spencer tilts her head, giving Emily a knowing look, "It's the weekend night in the city of _Philadelphia_. We didn't come this way to stay in some hotel. And with Hanna's sense of nocturnal lifestyle ever since she moved to New York, I wouldn't doubt if they were at some bar right now."

Emily groans knowing that Spencer is right. The thought of Aria and Hanna _'painting the town red'_ by themselves on a Friday night when they could be in Emily's room reliving the glory days or at least accompanying them and having a girls night out brings the sadness to the forefront all over again. "Yeah, call them." Emily huffs out as she leans back against her headboard with her once happy and warm thoughts now gone.

Spencer swipes her phone and walks towards Emily's bathroom to put away her towel as she dials Aria's number. Emily leans her head back and rubs her eyes, mentally prepping herself for what could come when she hears the ringing coming from the speakerphone.

_Ring…._

_Ring…._

_Ring…._

_Ring…._

"Hello?"

"Hey, sorry I missed your call. I was in the shower." Spencer starts off the phone conversation as she takes a seat on the bed, facing Emily with her phone laid flat in her palm with the speaker close by her mouth. "What are you guys up to?"

"We just left our table a place called _Devil's Alley Bar &amp; Grill_ and now I'm waiting on Hanna," The girls hear Aria communicating on the other line with the rumble of the city life in the background.

Emily makes a silent frown and rolls of her eyes. "They wasted their money going there." She mouths to herself with a shake of her head.

"So what are you guys gonna do afterwards?"

"We're gonna head back to the room," Aria's voice gets interrupted by a yawn, "I'm pretty tired. What about you? What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing much. Just gonna talk to Emily then go to sleep." Spencer responds with her eyes locked on Emily.

"Look, Spence. I feel pretty bad walking out like that. I mean we did come for Em and…things shouldn't have happened the way they did."

"You're telling me."

Aria continues to talk when Emily's phone buzzes in her hand.

_Today 9:55pm_

_Alison:_ Inside my apartment. Safe and sound.

Emily smiles at her message, making her drown out Aria and Spencer's conversation in the background.

_Emily:_ I miss you already :(

_Alison: _I'm there in your imagination, if you know what I mean

_Emily:_ don't do that lol. That's not fair

_Alison:_ How so?

_Emily:_ You know how so

_Alison:_ I don't suppose I do

_Emily_: You're a tease

_Alison_: I don't even know what that means

_Emily:_ Mhmmm….

Emily: But you will

"_Emily_." Emily looks up from her texts and sees Spencer looking at her with a smirk. "You didn't hear me the first three times I called your name?"

"Oh no, sorry." The brunette locks her phone and give Spencer her undivided attention, "What happened?"

"They're going back to their rooms and coming over in the morning." Spencer informs her as she gets comfortable in Emily's bed. "I don't know how early but they're coming."

"Great." Emily nods to herself, looking down at phone before glancing back up at Spencer, "That-that's good."

…

"I know this is none of my business _but_…and you don't have to answer but what Hanna said about you and Alison…" Spencer cautiously steps into unknown territory, "You guys have…?" Spencer gives Emily a knowing look, saying what she wants to say without any words leaving her mouth.

Emily sighs, remember how after she swore Hanna to secrecy just for her to be blown out the water hours later. "I mean, we did but honestly, Spencer...I kinda wished it never happened."

Spencer eyes open wide, not expecting that kind of response from the brunette, "_Really_?"

"Not in a bad way." Emily quickly corrects herself, "It's just that...it happened too fast and not in the way that it should have been, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"…..We happened during a drunk one night stand."

Spencer leans back, gripping the comforters with a slight grimace, "_Damn_."

"I know." Emily painfully hides her face behind her hands, "I was so wasted, Spencer. The entire next day was spent throwing up and being feeble. Plus, I was led to believe that I had sex with her friend who, if I may add, could be mistaken for Ali if in a drunken haze." Spencer frowns on behalf of her friend, connecting with her pain and regret. "I don't even remember much of that night. Just bits and pieces, here and there. And I feel like such an ass because with a night like that, I remember nothing. I could have been doing my pillow for all I know."

"Uhm?" Spencer comments awkwardly as she looks down at the pillow behind her.

"Obviously I wasn't so," Emily playfully shoves Spencer with a small laugh before she is brought back to her situation, "It's almost like you getting something you like, you know. But getting it too fast. Like when you're a kid and you want something, a toy or whatever, if you got it immediately, you were be happy, right?"

"Right."

"But sometimes, because you wasted no time getting what you wanted, you can become bored with it. This is not the case for everyone but, you know?" Emily ask to make sure she's making sense and not just babbling. "But if you like something and didn't get it immediately, you had time to _reeeeally_ want it. _To crave it_. You'll research it, watch videos and commercials of the toy, talk about it constantly to your parents, really be made to wait for it. When you finally get it you'll-"

"Cherish it.' Spencer nods, finishing Emily's sentence.

"Cherish it, yes!" Emily agrees, glad that Spencer understands where she was going with her point, "Because it was worth the wait."

"It's basically delayed gratification. The ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward."

"_Exactly_. Now am I bored of Alison because of it? _Hell no_. Do I wish I didn't jump the gun? Yes because you only get your first time with someone once. And I'm just kicking myself that our first time was fueled by alcohol and lust instead of compassion and admiration because that's what it was at the time. _Lust_. I was still getting to know her." Emily tugs at her fingers, looking down as she pours of her feelings that she always kept within her, never telling anyone. Especially Alison, "And if anything, we're not like that. One for random hookups. She didn't deserve for her first time to be waking up in the morning, slipping out the door with an unconscious me on the bed."

Spencer tilts her head to the side, gazing at Emily with awe in silence for a moment before saying anything, "I really wish Aria and Hanna were here to hear this. To witness this night and understand everything because, seeing everything first hand, I can almost _feel _the things you feel for Alison. I could see the passion in your face. A passion I haven't seen in a very long time."

"This passion scares me sometimes." Emily hangs her head, looking back to her fingers.

"Why? Why does it scare you?"

Emily hesitates for a second, "There was this one time I was with her. It was for a lunch break that she had. She and two other friends she had came over to my work for some wings. Now, we weren't dating or having these feelings for each other, not yet. This was a little before that. Now she's at a table across from me at the bar just enjoying her friends' company as I'm still on the clock. There is this guy at my job who was serving but he had the case of butterfingers with chicken legs and tripped." Emily starts to chuckle to herself at the thought of that day, "But it wasn't _any_ trip, he wobbled around for like 10 whole seconds while holding an empty set of takeout boxes in his hands. Almost like you walking outside and you slip on some ice but you slip about seven times in one fall before you actually hit the ground. He did that."

Spencer smiles as she lets Emily start her bit of laughter, "From the corner of my eyes I saw Alison spending that entire time trying to hold back. When the guy finally collected himself, gave the boxes and left, she busted into tears and was like, _"Holy shit, did you-"_ She couldn't even finish herself sentence because her voice disappeared and was overtaken by her laughter. One of her friends proceeded to mimic his wobbling, failing her arms around in her seat and accidently knocked over the cup of water onto their third friend. At that point, Alison's hysteria intensifies instead of rushing to her friend's aid. Kinda like how we were laughing downstairs. Now the whole bar was laughing but I…" Emily shakes her head as she looks out into the space in front of her, "I was in this…._trance_. For a second, if she would have asked me to jump in front of a speeding train that had no brakes, I would have done it."

"_Woah_," Spencer eyebrows raise up her forehead as she stares at the words coming out of Emily's mouth.

"If her laugh was a siren warning people to take shelter, I would dazedly walk closer to the noise not caring about the danger, just to hear it loud and clear." She tapped her lips with her fingertips as she began to drift away, "I wanted that laugh to be the last thing I hear when I go to sleep and the first thing to wake me up in the morning. I wanted to see her smile in every mirror and every picture frame that I own. I wanted her joy to be my ringtone, my alarm, and every single notification. I would purposely set random alarms throughout the day just to hear that laugh….And then a customer came up to me and the feeling passed."

"Good god, Emily."

"And it was just her laugh." Emily chewed on the inside of her cheek, "Not her personality or her looks or anything else. _Her laugh_. It was a laugh that had me like, "…Wow….I would kill for that laugh."

"Literally kill?" Spencer giggles with a small smile, "Like I could actually see that. You ripping people apart with your bare hands with a crazed, delusional expression on your face just to hear her laugh." The brunette does her best Maximus impression from film Gladiator with her arms extended out, "_Are you not entertained?!_"

"_Yes_!" Emily chuckles as she takes a small pillow and throws it at Spencer, "And like...I've never felt like that before. Never with anyone I've ever been involved with. Never with Paige, not even Maya. I mean with those two, I loved them, yes. But never have I stood still in the moment of time, thinking, "….Oh my god." Emily sucks in her bottom lip, "_I want to marry you_."

"Dammit, Emily. You're gonna make me cry." Spencer pretends to wipe a tear with a genuine smile taking over her face, "That's so beautiful."

"She is…" Emily nods to herself, stewing for a moment, "She is beautiful."

**Ok so….WHO DO I HAVE TO PAY TO WATCH MY OWN FIC? **

***Throws a handful of rusty pennies* **

**JUST TAKE MY MONEY**


	23. Chapter 23: Morning of New Beginnings

**Ah, I just want to say thank you guys for all the warm responses last chapter. So many adorable moments that I had to keep stopping because I couldn't handle it **_**if you know what I mean. **_**Lmao if you have never played that game, I encourage you not just for reasons haha.**

**But now…the morning after (Not so much the kind you guys want :P)**

CHAPTER #23: Morning of New Beginnings

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

The sizzle of a cracked egg dropping onto a hot pan fills the studio along with a few other female voices sounding off from the living room.

"So, we're talking about makeup this morning!"

"Yes we are! Makeup trends."

"And makeup goes through trends just as fashion does?"

"_Absolutely_. I mean it comes and goes but there are a few staples that will always stay. The first one, of course, the bold brow look, which we have right here. Jacaria, she is sporting something very easy to do."

Alison watches the a segment on the Today show as she dusts off her hands and reaches for her remote to put the TV volume a bit higher. Listening to her TV and cooking a small breakfast for herself at the same time, she feels somewhat satisfied of her night prior. The raw and pure enjoyment from hanging out with Emily and Spencer gave her a small shimmer of hope of her future with Emily. Although, not having the absolute need of 'impressing' her friends, it takes just a small bit off her chest that in the near future she won't have to hide from them like teens hiding from their parents.

"And you're matching with the natural brow color with an eye shadow." Savannah Guthrie, the Today show's cast member, observes over Michelle Phan, the show's guest to show their viewers some unique makeup ideas for spring.

"Yes, of course." Michelle smiles as she shades in her model's eyebrow, "And you know, you're seeing a lot of trends where a lot of girls are dying their hair purple and green and I always tell people if you're trying to match your brow hair to your hair, doesn't really matter as long as it's two to three shades lighter than your natural hair color, it's gonna look really good."

Alison pouts her lips with a nod to herself in interest as she takes her scrambled eggs and scrapes them into her plate with her already cooked mini sausages, French toast and a few slices of bacon. Putting her pan in the sink, she grabs herself some salt and syrup from her pantry to accentuate her food before she place them back and goes into her fridge to pour herself some apple juice.

"Now with the ombre lips, which I think it's really cool but hard to pull off." Savannah and Michelle walk over to their next model sitting at a display table, "How do you do it?"

"Well, this was a trend that was very popular in Seoul, South Korea last year and we're seeing it come out here. It's a very traditional look."

With her plate, silverware and drink in hand, Alison walks over towards her living room where she sits down on her sofa and places her things on the coffee table in front of her. Inside her left palm, she held a tiny, white oval that was to accompany her drink. Alison wasted no time to pop it in her mouth and wash it down with her apple juice all while keeping her eyes trained on her TV.

_Buzz! Buzz!_

The blonde hears her phone buzzing on her night stand from across the room still on its charger. She gets up and heads in the said direction, wondering who could be texting her.

_Today 8:22am_

_Emily:_ Good morning, Ms. DiLaurentis

Alison softly smiles to herself as she unplugs her phone and walks back to her couch.

_Alison:_ Good morning, Ms. Fields.

_Emily:_ How are you doing on such this fine morning, Ms. DiLaurentis?

_Alison:_ I'm doing well, Ms. Fields. And yourself?

_Emily:_ Swell, I am swell. Are you super busy, Ms. DiLaurentis?

_Alison:_ Not at all, Ms. Fields.

_Emily:_ Great beeeecauseee I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to swing over this way for breakfast?

Alison looks down at her already hand-cooked meal.

_Alison:_ Well, I'm already eating but sure I can come over.

_Emily:_ Fantastic. But just for a heads up, the rest of the girls are coming over as well...

Alison lets out a sigh as she looked over the words Emily strung together and sent to her. Already knowing how the other two stand, she didn't feel like getting into battle so early in the morning.

_Alison:_ I'm not sure anymore

_Emily:_ Trust me it's going to be ok. I promise it's not going to be as bad as you're thinking.

Alison: Emily, I understand how you want everyone to live in harmony but I just don't-

Alison begins to write out before Emily sent her another message.

_Emily: _Please. I really want you to be here.

Alison leans back into her couch as she looked over at her food, pondering to herself the pros and cons.

_Alison: _Alright, I'll come over.

Alison tosses her phone to the side of her, not wanting to see Emily's message back. To do a repeat of last night was something Alison did not sign up for when she woke up this morning and definitely didn't look forward to repeating.

…

With every step she walks down the familiar yet freshly polished hallway, Alison feels herself mentally and emotionally readying herself for whatever happens in the next half an hour or so. Worst case scenario? She'd just leave and see Emily whenever afterwards. Although it would create future strains if this get together doesn't go well especially if she and Emily want to last. Approaching Emily's apartment door, as she raises her hand to knock, she hears faint laughter that makes her stop mid-process. A part of her hopped she'd get there early enough to beat the crowd but now she has to walk the stage with the peering eyes that she is sure to follow her.

_Sigh._

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

After a few moments of quiet movement from the opposite side, there is an unlocking before the handle turns and opens to reveal a pleased Spencer.

"Hey, Alison. _Come in._" Spencer moves to the side to allow Alison entrance into Emily's apartment. Looking as if she was rest her head on Emily's lap, Alison notices Hanna straighten her posture on the couch as Emily rises to her feet to approach the blonde she had invited.

"Hey, babe." Emily wraps her arm around Alison's waist and pulls her in for a small peck on the cheek. Alison softly smiles at the brunette before there was an awkward silence that hushes the entire place.

"Hi, Alison,"

Everyone's sights turn towards the kitchen where Aria stood, nibbling on her McDonald's morning hash-browns.

"Hi, Aria." Alison responds the greeting with a slight head bow before it becomes silent again.

"Hey…" Hanna slips out her bare minimum of a morning greeting as she twirled her phone in her hand aimlessly.

"Hi, Hanna."

Emily beckons Alison over with her to the couch instead of standing in the limelight in the middle of her 1st floor like a circus act. Sitting beside Emily, Alison takes the end of the couch, putting major space between her and Hanna.

Silence makes its third round once more.

Spencer discreetly nudges Aria to fill in the blank space, "S-so-uhm…Alison," Aria speaks up, "how was your morning?"

"So far, so good." Alison nods her head as she looks down at her nails, "Luckily, I have no work today so that's definitely a plus." Alison softly smiles to herself before looking up at Aria from across the room, "Thanks for asking. How was your morning? You guys got in okay last night?"

With Aria responding back to Alison's questioning, Hanna eyes Alison with no sense of secrecy but wide in the open. To her, hearing Alison being so polite seemed so foreign and unlike her. The only time she could recall the blonde being cordial was if she was trying to manipulate or deceive someone. She takes in her body language, noticing that Emily was softly massaging her hand in her lap. Hanna's eyes drift up to Emily who seemed to be enjoying Alison's presence and the capableness of her talking to her friends. No matter what was being said or the actions being done, Hanna was still side-eyeing Alison.

Aria lets out a weighed sigh, "look, let's just be upfront about this." Hearing the change up in words, Emily immediately shoots Aria a look, not knowing what she was plaining on saying. "We have a past. We all have a past. It's the biggest elephant in the room right now and, to be frank, we don't like you." Spencer instantly opens her mouth to interject when Aria continues on, "Well, Spencer likes you now but Hanna and I? We don't like you or want nothing to do with you."

"_Aria!_" Emily chokes out as she flashes her eyes from Aria to Hanna sitting on the opposite end of the couch.

"That's how we felt about you before Emily came out and told us you and her were a thing." Aria carries on her with speech. Realizing where Aria was going with it, Emily visibly and emotionally recovers herself from what she thought was about to be a verbal onslaught. "_Now Emily? _We cherish her more than anything in the world. Apart from Spencer, Hanna and I have no sisters. Growing up with Em, she became family to all of us and family looks out for one another. If Emily says she likes you, then...we like you too. I am willing to start over and get to know you _only_ if you plan on staying in Emily's life because," Aria eyes flicker towards Emily,  
"it seems that she really cares about you. And if she cares," Aria lightly nods with a closed lipped smile, "we care."

Alison drops her head with a smile forming on her face, "_Thank you, Aria._" Alison looks back up at Spencer and Aria standing beside each other, "Really. You didn't have to do that-"

"_Shhh_. yes they did, yes they did." Emily cuts Alison off with a stroke of her hand, prompting her to stop. The girls all chuckle as Spencer gives Hanna a knowing look of speaking up next instead of sitting quietly. With the laughter dying down, Emily looks over at the other end of her sectional and gives Hanna a glance of acknowledgment, waiting for her to say something.

"Aria just..." Hanna presses her lips together with a shrug of her shoulders, "she took the words right out of my mouth."

Alison gives Hanna a smile although Emily observes that Hanna was holding back. However, instead of saying anything she looked away and decided not to comment on it.

…

Traveling up into Emily's room, all the girls collect in the bedroom with Emily showing Alison and the rest of the girls the clothes that Hanna have given to her. Giving compliments for every piece of clothing, Emily strikes up a different topic.

"You know, Ali is going into the fashion world too." Emily remarks as she folds up the blouse she had just finished showing off.

"Really?" Hanna halfway questions as her eyes doesn't leave Emily's bed of clothes and accessories.

Emily turns her head to Alison to give her the floor of explaining herself.

"Yeah. I study at the arts institute." Alison clarifies for everyone as she sits on the corner edge of Emily's bed, "Every season we have a contest and the two winners get to have their work worn during fashion week. Competition for spring is coming up and I've been putting in work for the hopes of my work getting chosen."

"Hm." Hanna flicks her eyebrow with little interest, "I go to fashion week frequently. The experience is unbeatable."

"I would love to go to the one in NY. It's so..." Alison extends her hands out in front of her, "_grand_."

"It is."

"It's funny." Spencer brings in her knees to her chest, sitting on the floor with her back against Emily's wall, "Back then, people used to always comment on how much you guys looked alike and now you guys are in the same world of fashion."

"You know, you're right..." Emily exchanges from gaze from Alison to Hanna, taking a good look at both of them before she smiles, "Maybe you guys were meant to be." Everyone chuckles at the remark as Hanna gives a single forced laugh, not finding it as funny.

"Hey Em, I'm parched." Aria begins to complain as she stands to her feet, "Do you think you could whip us something to drink?"

"Uhm yeah, sure." Emily sets down the other article of clothing in her hand. Leading the way out of her room and down the stairs, everyone gets up and follows behind her. Along with the pack, Alison goes to leave as well but is stopped by Hanna. Confused on why she was pulled away, Hanna waits until everyone has left until she begins talking.

"Look… I know we're not going to be _buddy buddies_ like that but I'm going to try to make this work with you." Hanna puts her voice a little over a whisper to hold Alison's attention but to keep her words within the room, "Emily is my person, ok? I love her with everything inside of me so if she wants me to give you a chance, I will."

"Thanks, Hann-"

"With that being said, Alison, this better not be an act." Hanna flips the script, catching Alison off-guard, "I know you and what you're capable of. I know the games you play and I know them well, alright?" Hanna takes a step in closer to Alison who furrows her brows, staring at Hanna with puzzled eyes, "_You use people._ That's what you're notorious for. You better be in this relationship and you better be in this one hundred percent. Emily has already wasted her time with people who wasn't all the way with her. And to be totally honest with you," Hanna crosses her arms defensively as she takes a look at Alison up and down, "I don't even feel anything from you with this relationship with Em. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was some kind of ploy to get something out of her. But let me tell you something and this you better remember." Hanna takes another daring step as she looks Alison square in her eye and dropped her voice to a serious hush, "If I _ever_ get a call from Emily crying or displaying any emotion of sadness because of something _you did_, I will be here. All it takes is one call, one text." Hanna tauntingly wags a finger in front of the blonde, "_One call, Alison_. I know where you are, where you work and it'll only take a second to find out where you live. If you do _anything_ to break Emily's heart..._you will see me._"

Alison readjusts her body posture as she pushes her jaw out to the side, holding Hanna's glare, "Are you threatening me?"

"No, I am _telling_ you."

"Well aren't you considerate."

"I'm dead serious, Alison." Hanna gravelly responds back to Alison's sarcastic comment, "It only takes two hours by car and an hour by plane. Don't make me use my mileage just to come and beat your ass because I'll be pissed."

"_Save your fucking money_." Alison jumps in regarding Hanna's warning. She takes in a breath as she looks down at the ground, "_See Hanna_….I don't do well with threats._ Never have. _So, let me tell you this," Alison lifts her now cold eyes to glare down the blonde in front of her with her face holding as strong as her stance, "You have some balls to get in my face and try to intimidate me." Alison smiles as Hanna continues to stare her down, seeing the all too familiar face showing itself, "First and foremost, Emily is the best thing that has ever happened to me so if you think I'm going to screw it up, don't hold your breath because you will _fucking kill yourself_. You don't have to like me. I'm not going to get on my knees and beg you to be my friend, I already have friends. But _you_…" Alison's ire sits at the base of her throat as her voice deepens, "you will give me the fucking common courtesy I deserve. You respect me and I'll respect you, plain and simple." Alison extends her hand out in front of her for a handshake. Hanna glares at her at eye level, studying her face before looking down at her hand.

"_Fine_..." Hanna lets out, not withering away from Alison's form of coercion, "You got a deal." Hanna pulls out her hand and shakes on it, putting everything aside. In an instant, Alison yanks Hanna's hand, bringing the blonde's body close to her so that they stood face to face.

"And don't you ever_…._and I mean _ever…_ try to _fuck_ with my relationship." Alison grips Hanna's hand tightly as she pierces through her with her eyes, making sure she understood every word, "I won't come up with an elaborate threat like you did but _trust me_….fuck with my relationship and I will fuck with you. _Try_ to pull some shit and there will be a lot of fucking around happening. _And it won't be the kind that you like._" Alison glares without blinking, resonating her warning deep within Hanna with her words proving significance and certainty. Alison throws Hanna's hand down as they both stood quietly in the room, holding a dominant staring contest.

_There she was._

_There was the Alison DiLaurentis I knew._

Breaking their concentration on each other, the sounds of feet trotting up the stairs make both girls turn around just as Emily entered her room.

"_Hey..._" Emily notices that it looks like she walked right into an ongoing conversation, "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Nope." Alison shakes her head before she glanced over to the side at Hanna, "Not at all."

"I was giving Alison some pointers, you know, for her classes." Hanna creates a scenario that was appropriate enough to cover what had really happened.

"Oh!" Emily surrenders with a lifting of her hands, "Well, let me not intrude on that."

"No, its fine." Alison begins walking towards Emily, "We already hashed everything out. I was just coming downstairs anyway- but uhm…thanks for the talk, Hanna." Alison looks over her shoulder as she stops at the top of the stairs beside Emily, "I really appreciated it."

"_Yeah_..." Hanna returns the smile with a forced yet believable one, "anytime."

…

"So just to make sure, Em, you don't mind if we crash here?"

"For the fifth time, Aria, she said yes."

Emily chuckles as she plops herself down onto her couch, "I would rather you guys being under my roof instead of paying however much you're paying for a room."

"It's $119 a night," Aria groans as she rubs the back of her neck. Running out the way they did, trying to find a nice hotel within close distance to Emily's place that was affordable was pretty much a hassle to find. Sacrificing money was something that had to be done.

Spencer takes a look at her wrist-watch, "You _do know_ you have like 25 minutes until checkout time before you guys are charged for another day, right?" Hearing Spencer's words, Aria and Hanna immediately look at the time on their phone.

"_Shit! _That's on my card!" Hanna grabs her jacket from the back of Emily's dinning chair and swings her purse over her shoulders all in one swift motion before she runs to the door with Aria jumping up behind her.

"C'mon, Spencer!" Aria grabs Spencer's hand as she runs towards the door.

"M-my shoes! I don't have my shoes on!"

"Then put them on!" Hanna already out into the hallway, Aria hurries Spencer as she fumbles for her shoes and pushes her out the door. "We'll be back," Aria smiles at Emily and Alison sitting on the couch before she closes the door behind her. Even with the girls out the apartment, you could still hear the trails of their voices becoming fainter and fainter until the entire place was silent again.

"Well_…..that was a trip_," Emily laughs as she turns to look at Alison who was silently looking back at her, "_So_, do you mind if I ask what you and Hanna talked about or do you guys already have a code of secrecy between you both?"

"Nothing worth repeating honestly." Alison shrugs as she looked down at the couch fabric, "Just what's popular right now, the do's and don'ts. Boring fashion stuff like that."

"I'm really glad to hear that." Emily gleefully beams in excitement that she tried to hide, "To be honest with you, I wasn't sure how Hanna was going to take to you today but I'm really glad that we all can be friends."

Alison lets out a wry chuckle, "_Friends_ is a tight word for the loose connections we have."

"But at least they're getting around it." Emily effortlessly puts her arm around Alison's shoulder, "What happened here? _Major progress._ They all were difficult to persuade in their own way but once Spencer came around, everything just...fell into place."

"What happens if it doesn't?" Alison examines over Emily's face with ambiguity.

"What?"

"What happens if nothing falls into place? They're only tolerating me for you. What..." Alison repositions herself so that her body is facing Emily, "What if we don't work out? I'll have 3 different bounties on my head."

"Woah, _hey_….where is this coming from?" Emily pinches her brows together as she shakes her head with confusion, "Why wouldn't this work?"

Alison stares at her for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders, "Just a _what if_."

"Do you want us to work, Alison?"

"Of course I do."

"Then we are." Emily snaps, "_Just like that._ Through sunny days to freaking 30 feet waves of tsunami tides, we're going to work. If im..." Emily stops herself as she gazes into Alison's eyes with a smile, "We're going to be fine, alright? I can't find any reason why I would want to break things with you. And _I hope_ there is no reason you would want to break things with me, right?" Alison sucks in her bottom lip, shaking her head making Emily interlace their hands together, "Then you're stuck with me and all my glory." The brunette lets out a big cheesy grin, "Because I'm staying right here. I'm not going to leave you. Not for _anything_ _or anyone_."

Alison gazes into Emily's eyes, capturing every emotion behind them before she leans in to give Emily a small kiss. Gently pulling away, Emily's eye drift up to Alison's eyes as her eyes stayed concentrated on Emily's lips. Within seconds, Alison leans in again to give Emily another kiss, yet, with more passion this time. Kissing her again, Emily slowly loses herself with Alison's warm hands caressing her face and soft lips giving her all the attention. The brunette snakes her hands down to caress Alison's back before she pulled her up and sat her in her lap. Alison pulls away from their lingering kiss and cups Emily's face, looking deeply into her eyes.

"What did I do to deserve that?" Emily smiles cheekily.

"_Everything_…" Alison eyes keeps a constant battle between looking at Emily's eyes and lips, "You deserve everything."

Emily's hands reach up to Alison's face and cups her as well, feeling the intimate moment starting between the two, "_You_ deserve everything."

"And I want to give you everything. I want to give you everything, Emily."

Emily softly pulls Alison back away from her and studies her face, "_You're glowing..._" Emily amazingly grins to herself as she stroked the side of Alison's face, "I've never seen you like this before."

Alison coolly smiles at the brunette, "I'm just happy to be with you."

"I'm happy to be with you too. I'm always happy to be with you."

Keeping eye contact with each other, Alison tilts her head to the side and kisses Emily's palm. Exchanging no other words, Alison leans in and begins to kiss Emily again slowly. Gradually adding the tip of Emily's tongue to brush against Alison's, Alison's lips latches on to Emily's bottom lip as she pulls her closer to her.

"How about…" Emily whispers into the kiss, "We finish yesterday's rendezvous and take it upstairs?"

"You're afraid that we'll get walked in on and everyone will see?" Alison smiles as she continues to leave Emily slow pecks on her lips.

"I mean, if you're into that kind of thing but _uhm_..." Emily's hands glide down Alison's side and wraps arms under Alison's ass, "I don't do crowds." Within that same second, Emily lunges to her feet and lifts Alison up, making the brunette let out a playful yelp, holding onto Emily's neck for support.

"You sure are strong, Ms. Fields." Alison nuzzles her face into Emily's neck, giving her small trails of kisses on her exposed skin as they walk towards the stairs and up to Emily's room.

"The better to keep you in my arms, my dear."

….

Laying side by side, facing each other, Emily rests her forehead against Alison's as they try to catch their breaths from their small little makeout session.

"Too bad I can't stay." Alison pouts, "I wanted to maybe relax and watch a movie with you."

"What? Why? Why can't you stay?" Emily pestered with questions as she lightly traced shapes on Alison's side.

"Because you have three other people staying"

"_So?_ This place is big enough."

"What? You're gonna have them sleep on the couch as we stay up here?"

"_Possibly_." Emily nonchalantly shrugs, "Or all three could sleep up here, if Spencer and Aria spoon or all three of them spoon for that matter, I don't care," Emily and Alison quietly giggle together as Emily fingers slipped a few centimeters up Alison's shirt and began touching her skin. "Then you and I can take the couch downstairs."

Alison shakes her head, "Sound travels too much here,"

"Then I guess we would have to keep silent, huh?" Emily smiles and leans in for another brief kiss.

"But no..." Alison responds back out of the kiss, "Enjoy your friends. They came here for you. Go out, do something, have fun."

"I wish you could come,"

"It'll be fine. Besides, Hanna needs someone. It'll be uneven with 5 people." Emily pouts with a sigh as her eyes watches her fingers move around under Alison's shirt, "_Go_" Alison gently nudges Emily, "I'll be fine. I'm going out with the girls anyway, so…"

"Oh?" An eyebrow is raised from Emily, "And what are we doing with the girls?"

"Don't worry about it." Alison shakes her head with a smirk, "You have your girls' night and I'm having mines."

Emily's smile slowly begins to fade as she stares at Alison, taking in her warm body and flawless beauty that just threw her head over heels "As soon as they leave…." Emily's voice drops to a whisper, "I want you to spend the night with me." Alison stares back into Emily's eyes with the biting of her bottom lip, "As _soon_ as they leave...you're gonna spend the night with me."

Alison slowly nods her head in agreement, "As soon as they leave, I'll spend the night." She whispers back.

Emily leans in for another peck with her eyes closed, "Spend the day with me...and then stay the night over."

"I'll stay the night over."

"_And_ morning."

"_And morning_."

"Day, night and morning," Emily mumbles back as she brushed her lips against Alison's, hovering over her, not yet to kiss her but waiting. "You're going to be with me."

"I'll be here..."

Emily leaned in to kiss Alison's sweet lips. The kiss started out gently, softly exploring the lips of the other. With merely that not being enough, the kiss grew deeper; a movement of their tongues sensually seeking the warmth of the other. Laying on their sides, Emily caressed the blonde's body as Alison moved her hands to Emily's neck, pulling her closer and closer, delighting in the sweet torture in their kiss. After a few moments, the passion steadily grew more heated with Emily moaning lightly and her tongue swirled inside Alison's mouth. Leaning farther down, Alison kisses down Emily's jawline to her neck as she licks and begins sucking on Emily's exposed skin.

"_Alison, baby…?_" Emily breathes out.

"_Yes, baby?_" Alison's voice vibrates into Emily's skin which gives her a slight shiver.

"You….you can't do that…."

"Do what?" Alison grazes her teeth ever so lightly on Emily's skin before she begins sucking on the concentrated spot.

"_That_." The brunette huffs out with the sensation Alison is causing to make her start to lose control, "I'm already weak as it is so if you keep that up…I can't….I can't be held responsible for my actions thereafter. So….stop…..doing…that…." Alison continues on, ignoring Emily's warning which, Emily is internally glad that she didn't stop because it felt way too good.

….

With the girls coming back with their suitcases and other baggage, Alison grabs her things to get ready to leave with Emily trailing down the stairs behind her.

"You're already leaving, Alison?" Spencer questions as she sees the blonde looking like she was ready to head out.

"Yeah, I have some other things I have to do but thanks for having me." Alison replies as she grabs her purse and hikes it up her shoulder.

"Alright, well, we'll see you later." Aria gives a small smile prompting everyone to say their goodbyes.

"Bye, Em." Alison outstretches her arms for the brunette walking towards her, "I'll text you later on." Emily dives into Alison's arms as she wraps herself around her waist and gives her sweet departing kiss on the lips. They smile at each other as they stand in each other's hold for a moment before Alison turns around and walks towards the door.

Opening the open door, Alison sees Hanna on the opposite side just as she went to reach for the door knob. They stand silently, exchanging a moments worth of looks before Alison moves to the side allowing Hanna access inside.

"Thank you," Hanna thanks as cordial as possible.

"You're welcome. Have a good day, Marin." Alison nods her head before she walks off and down the apartment building hallway. Hanna watches the blonde disappear into the stairway exit doors before she faced forward and walked into Emily's apartment.

**Hmmmm…there's a lot going on here.**

**What do you think about it?**

**Remember S5 Hanna that had the identity crisis, became a drunk, and couldn't really stand Alison when she publicly came back? Yep, that's the Hanna you see here except without the crisis and the drunk part. She wants to protect Emily at all cost. Sometimes, if she has to threaten a couple people here and there, she believes can make sure Emily doesn't get hurt. _Buuut_ not everyone takes to threats well. Alison surely doesn't.**

**How would you have reacted to the threat? **

**This makes things a tad bit interesting, don't you think?**

**To all my international readers that are dealing with devastation and tragic effects, **_**please**_** stay safe, my loves. **


	24. Chapter 24: Friends Know Best

**Oh! A long chapter this update. Got a few things going on here that I think you guys will like developmental wise. **

**A fellow Guest (you know who you are, you anonymous guest person) wrote a review last chapter saying that they "really felt like the moment Emily said she'd never leave Alison alone was the moment Alison realized she was in love with Emily". You know what, Guest, I think so too. There's just some kind of **_**comfort**_** in someone telling you that they will stick through the fire with you. **

**There is also comfort when that same person demands you to spend the night when the apartment gets empty. Hardy har har ;)**

CHAPTER #24: Friends Know Best

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Doing their separate thing for the day, Emily and Alison split up into their own respectable circle of friends and decide to have their _"Girl's Day Out"_ for their Saturday.

"What are you guys up for doing today?" Emily asks as she walks behind her friends, turning to the lock her apartment door behind her.

"We could always go shopping." Hanna gleefully blisses at her suggestion as she locks her arms with Emily.

"We go shopping all the time." Aria complains as she follows Hanna's gesture and clings onto Spencer's arm. Whenever partial of the gang is together with Hanna involved, her go-to is always shopping. Although it's fun at times, today shouldn't be spent on something you could do any other day. "Let's do something fun. It's not every day that we are together. We need to make memories out of this day."

"_Uhm_…Armani makes great memories, Aria." Hanna responds back with a scoff, "Especially if you mix it with a little bit of Yves and D&amp;G. You'll have the loveliest of memories."

"I love how Hanna talks as if we have an unlimited bank account." Spencer sarcastically rolls her eyes with Aria and Emily chiming in their small laughter of agreement as the four amigos stop in front of the elevator. "I think she forgets that we are struggling college students with books, rent, and bills to pay at the end of the month," Spencer continues as she presses the down button, "Sorry that we aren't willing to blow the last 75 cents we have left to eat on name brands."

Hanna goes for a rebuttal when Emily pitches in as well, "I mean…Spencer is right." The brunette shrugs, "I only have $64 left to my name until I get paid again and I have yet to go food shopping."

The elevator bells dings and the opens, granting the four girls to waltz inside. Standing in their positions, Aria leans over to look at Emily, "Let's talk about your money situation, Em, since it's different from all of us."

"Yeah, _Ms. Bartender._" Hanna shimmies on Emily's arm with a sly smirk, "Explain to the others how you bring home the bacon for our household."

"Well…It's almost like working at The Brew back home but not. Salary-wise, I only get paid about $10 an hour so I heavily rely on tips to bring home any kind of money."

"What do you have to bring to the table in order to leave with a good sum of cash? I know the whole customer service thing is a must." Spencer asks, intrigued in Emily's pay as well.

"The first is obvious—be a well-liked bartender." Emily giggles as the elevator doors open and the girls set out to walk through the lobby. Seeing her friend, Jacob, working the front desk handling a small line of people, Emily silently smiles and waves to him before she goes back to her friends. "Wait, who's car are we taking?" Emily and the gang stops in the middle of the lobby, "Mines in right down in the parking garage."

"Okay. We'll take yours." Aria simply agrees as she begins to walk before Spencer holds her back.

"I say we take the rental." The conservative brunette disagrees, "We're paying for it every passing day so we better get our money's worth."

All three other girls agree with a head nod as they continue on their path through the lobby and on-wards outside where Aria, Spencer, and Hanna's 2013 platinum Nissan Armada sits a little ways up the street in the available apartment's parking spaces parallel to the sidewalks.

"Finish what you were saying," Hanna nudges Emily's arm, seeing that she had stopped talking after asking which car to take out.

"Oh yeah," Emily shakes her head in remembrance, "So main thing is to be well-liked. You have to tell jokes and stories, listen to drunken rambles and lamentations attentively, give compliments and advice, flirt a little, and above all make sure that you keep the booze coming at a steady pace, and plenty of it."

"When are the nights you get big tips? What's the biggest you've ever had?" Aria asks curiously.

"Any nights when the games are on since we're a sports bar. That being said the super bowl and finals are my favorite time to work because I leave very happy. Not caring who wins, anyway, but my pockets are very comfy." Emily and the rest laugh as they continue to walk up street, nearing their vehicle, "But in the regular NFL season, if there's a _very _big matchup, and I know if I'm working that night, I'll leave with some pretty great tips. Like for example, last season, there was a game…" Emily takes on the pondering air as she tries to remember one of the most thrilling nights she's worked over the past year. "I think it was the Pats vs Ravens…?" Emily looks onto Hanna as if the blonde knew anything sports related. Hanna looks back at her, taken back with a scrunched up face of bewilderment,

"Don't look at me! I don't watch any of the macho man crap."

"Oh!" Spencer has a light bulb moment as she wags her finger in the air at Emily, getting a different kind of flashback from the bartender. "I know _exactly_ what game you're talking about. Toby had threw a small party with that game after New Year's. New England Patriots vs Baltimore Ravens at the AFC Divisional." Spencer smiles to herself, almost feeling accomplished that she could relate to Emily's story-telling. "I know over my place it was a wild game."

**Spencer refills her party bowl with fresh and hot cheesy dip as she walks over to her living room filled with several of Toby's friends from the field that had found themselves having a great time in their small bungalow that Toby inherited from his family. Cracking his fresh new can of Bud, Toby beckons Spencer over to him and has her sit on his lap as his friends bicker in the background about who's going to take over the game with the score being 31-28.**

"**How the hell was Mosley not called for holding when he was restraining Gronk but Revis was with only **_**TWO FINGERS**_** on Smith?!" One of Toby's male friends angrily recalls the lack of a flag call as he sits on the opposite end of the couch in his Patriots' attire.**

"**_Right?!_" Another friend, an obvious fan of the Patriots, agrees with his friend's sentiment as he returns to the living room with another cold beer he got out of Toby and Spencer's cooler, "There's pass interference and then there's **_**bear hugging**_** a man. I swear the refs are fucking retarded."**

"**And the idiot commentator says "**_**Hmm, that's a close one. I'm okay with the non-call**_**". But on the Revis holding for maybe half a second, the same dumbass commentator goes "Wow that's a practical undressing!" The first guy heatedly responds, critiquing the reporters as he notices his team is losing to the Ravens, "Fucking moron commentator. At least **_**try**_** making yourself look like less of an anti-Pats, fucking NFL apologist.** "

"**Would somebody **_**please **_**change Levi's diapers?" Lorenzo, Toby's partner in crime-fighting whines as he leans forward, takes his nacho chip and glides it across the hot cheese before he leans back into the couch, "He starts acting like a little **_**bitch**_** when he sits in his own piss for too long." Lorenzo and the others laugh at the officer's remark with Toby friendly nudging him in a chuckle.**

"**Fuck you, Calderon." Levi rises up, not finding the joke funny as he confronts Lorenzo who sits back unbothered. "You and your bitchass team knows I'm right."**

"_**Hey, hey**_**." Toby shakes his head as he waves his hand to calm the distressed sports fan down, silently telling him to relax since the game isn't over it.**

**Catching Toby's gesture, the officer's face cooled about 10 degrees as he sat back down into his seat, looking over at the brunette sitting with Toby, "Sorry, Spencer." He raises his hand regretfully, "I shouldn't have lost my cool like that, I apologize." **

**Spencer smiles at the young male, not phased at all, "Its okay, Levi. The refs were totally wrong for that call."**

"_**Thank you.**_**" Levi raises his hands in the air before putting his beer to his lips, ****"Intelligence lives among the idiots in this room."**

**As the game continues on, Spencer enjoys the little get-together her and Toby hosted. Anyone that knows Spencer knows she couldn't care less about football, however, when it comes to being a host, she puts her all to make sure that she holds the best party to make a good impression on Toby's friends. Not having a favorite team, Spencer chooses the opposite team from Toby –the Patriots- just for some friendly competition. Toby, on the other hand, is not really a fan of any of the playing teams but he respects the Ravens and decided to cheer for that team for this hyped up game. Holding about 11 people total in their living room, the air is filled with anxiousness and trash talk. A lot of it.**

**Everyone's attention goes back to the TV as they watch the Patriots have possession at 1****st**** &amp; 10 in the last quarter. With all the team members ready in their position, the ball snaps into Tom Brady's hand as the play is ran. Waiting for only two seconds, Brady throws the football down the field towards the end zone and nicely lands into Brandon Lafell's hands as he runs for the touchdown with a Raven's player failing to do his job of an interference. The living roars with excitement as fellow Patriot fans jump to their feet, laughing and celebrating that their team has successfully made a touchdown and is now in the lead with 35-31.**

"**Haha! What now?! What now?!" Levi extends his hands out beside him as he looks around the living room at all the Raven fans with the smuggest look one could have. "Fuck **_**you**_**," he points to all the guys who were clowning on him and his team earlier, "Fuck **_**you**_**, Fuck **_**you**_**," Levi turns and points at Lorenzo who looks at the TV dissatisfied, "and especially fuck **_**you**_**, you double negative lookin' motherfucker. Who's sitting in their piss now?"**

"**Man, get your damn finger out of my face." Lorenzo swats the excited fan's hand as the other half of the room continued to celebrate the touchdown.**

"**WHOO! Hell yeah! Patriots are gonna take this victory, baby!"**

**The bar erupts with cheers and hugging. Nearing the end of the game, drinks are flowing, people are too excited to eat and everyone huddles around the available TVs on. With the place filled both top and bottom floor, Emily moves more quicker than usual to refill people's drinks, taking a mental note of who is having what and how much each of her patrons are having. With her rushing around Jack, Emily makes sure she's out of everyone's way as they all pay attention to last few minutes of the game. On the field, the Ravens take a timeout, allowing everyone in the bar to collect themselves and continue their eating and drinking. As the NFL commentators discuss over what could be done on the Ravens' defense to win the game, the Patriots' sound system turns on in means for their 3****rd**** down, pump up song to get the fans in the crowd up and going. Luckily, their system translates clearly over the TV and into the establishment for everyone to hear. **

"_**Josie's on a vacation far away. Come around and talk it over…So many things that I want to say; you know I like my girls a little bit older."**_** The patrons of the Rittenhouse instantly pick up on the song playing on the loud TVs and begin belting to it as if each and everyone one of them was in the spotlight of karaoke night. **

**"**_**I JUST WANNA USE YOUR LOVE TONIGHT!**_**" The entire bar, top and bottom roars out the lyrics to the popular 80's tune along with the fans in the crowd of the stadium who too sing along with the song. Getting a friendly elbow bump from Jack who also sings to his heart's content, Emily looks out in front of her at everyone singing as loud as they can. From kids to people from their early twenties all the way well into their senior years, both Ravens and Patriots fans putting away their animosity for about 30 seconds, singing in harmony all with nothing but smiles and nostalgia on their faces as they all sway from side to side. The site and the very sound that she's witnessing at that exact moment gives her unforgettable chills.**

"_**I DON'T WANNA LOSE YOUR LOVE TONIGHT!**_**"**

"The Ravens missed their opportunity for a touchdown and the Patriots won. I left that night with a clean $280 total in tips." Emily cheekily smiles as she hops into the passenger seat of the rental as Hanna takes the driver's wheel besides her.

"Well if all I gotta do is smile and wink at a few desperate guys just to make that much a night, you might as well put in a good word for me, Em." Aria heartedly jokes as she and Spencer slides into the back seat, ready to voyage out to their next destination.

"Well, you know, you have your good nights and then you have your _bad nights_." Emily explains as she puts on her seatbelt and slides her phone out of her back pocket, "I think the worst night I've had was leaving with nothing but $20. When the people aren't rolling in and are cheap, it affects what you bring home tremendously."

"Alright, that's all great but _uhm_… where are we going?" Hanna taps on the steering wheel after she had started up the car and adjusted her seats and mirrors. "After you guys _mercilessly _ganged up on me, you three stooges never offered a counter idea."

"What's the fun thing you wanted to do, Aria?" Emily asks as she unlocks her phone and opens up her text messages, oblivious to Hanna eyeing her like a suspecting wife, wondering who's she talking to.

"I don't know!" The smaller brunette instantly surrenders, as she leans back into her seat, "I just wanted to go out and do _something_."

_Today 3:42pm_

_Emily:_ I hope you're not having too much fun without me :(

…..

_Today 3:47pm_

_Alison:_ Oh I am don't worry :)

Alison subtly smirks at her phone as a voice right next to her begins to sound.

"_Oh my gosh_. Can you believe this, Miranda? Alison has actually called _us_ to hang out. How long has it been? Like 400 years?"

"It's been so long that this isn't even me talking right now." Miranda responses as all three girls walk side by side down the street. Living in a city where traffic is horrible everywhere and parking is even worse, it's not uncommon for people to go out and take public transportation or walk to where they have to go instead. It's not that you don't have a car or can't operate it, it's just that it can be a real inconvenience when you get to your location, take twenty mins to find parking, finally find one a block away and having to rush back because you didn't have enough for your meter and your car is seconds away from getting towed. So, to make life easier, the girls decided to walk, and when they have to, call for a taxi, "I actually died and they replaced my body with a hologram. I'm not even here right now. That's how long it's been since we've been graced in Alison's presence. I'm a computer."

"The Queen Alison's presence," Amy playfully mocks as she bows down before Alison playfully shoves her.

"You guys are so dramatic." Alison laughs as she goes back to her phone screen, "I've just been busy lately."

"_Mmmmhmmm…" _Miranda side-eyes the blonde as she glances at her up and down. "You sure have. If it wasn't for seeing you at work, I would have thought the little green men in the sky zapped you up and taken you to their leader." Amy laughs at Miranda being typical Miranda as Alison lightly chuckles too, gripping her phone in her hand as if she was in a battle with herself of making a decision. She ponders quietly for a few steps before she cleared her throat.

"Actually…" She begins off, knowing that what she was about to say was going to set the girls from 0 to 30 in the dramatic and nosy department. However, they were her friends that she has trusted ever since she came to Philadelphia and even if they could be a little over the top, they were the only two people Alison has really allowed in her space because she knows deep down they care and would always keep it real with her. Even if she doesn't want to hear it. "I…. I have something to tell you guys."

"What?" Both friends question in unison, shooting looks of curiosity over at the blonde as she begins to spill something unbeknownst to them.

"I'm...I'm...I'm actually dating someone..." Alison smiles to herself as she looks down at the cement sidewalk underneath her feet.

"_Woah!"_

"_No way! Really?!"_ Both girls gasp in totally shock and blindside as they stop dead in their steps, gawking at the blonde with their eyes widen and mouths practically hoovering inches above the ground.

"_Yes_!" Alison merrily beams as she turns around at the girls stopped behind her. "Yes way." Actually saying that she's dating Emily out loud made Alison feel way better than she had anticipated. Almost as if she was declaring it as fact to the universe. Feeling the warm feeling of someone who wants to be around her all the time and genuinely loves every little thing about her, flaws and all, brings such an amazing feeling that she had to tell someone about it. And seeing that she went from _I don't want people knowing about my business _to _Let me tell you about this wonderful person I've decided to date _is a huge step for her. A step that Emily help her make, although she has no idea she did.

"So _that's_ what you've been doing all this time?" Miranda saunters towards Alison with a squint in her eye as she pulls a strand of hair back behind her ears, "Shacking up with some random and ignoring your friends?"

"_Shut up,_ I'm not ignoring you guys." Alison scoffs with a roll of her eyes as her lips still held onto the smile she just couldn't wipe away.

"_No_!" Miranda lifts her heads up to the sky as she pretended to be hurt by her friend's latest actions. "No, I see how it is. I see _exactly_ how it is. You've turned into one of _those girls_." The brunette wiped an imaginary tear from under her eye with a sniffle, "The ones that ditch their friends as soon as they find someone that shows them some attention."

"Never mind that!" Amy jumps into Miranda's performance as they kept walking, passing all kinds of people who are just minding their business and going along their day with the warmth that has been blessing the city's citizens. "I thought we had a pack to stay single! Ever since Dani's breakup, we said we all were gonna stay single unless we all got boyfriends at the same time. You can't just cut the game like that!" Amy whines, "Now we have to rush to find someone just to catch up with you." With a random guys passing by the girls, going the opposite way, Amy flashes a smile and purposely twirls a strand of hair to get his attention. "_Hey._"

"_Hey_." The older guy reciprocates Amy's charm and smile with a nod as he passes by.

"Oh god, Amy stop." Miranda laughs as she pulls the apparently flirty blonde's arm, pulling her attention off the man. She laughs at her little stunt before she goes back to the conversation at hand, "But let's get to the real question." Miranda switches her sight back to who the spotlight belongs on, "Who the hell is getting access to our Alison?"

"Guess." Alison smirks as with an extra twist to her step, something that the girls rarely saw in her unless she was boasting about something. Amy took on Alison's smug expression as she tried to rack her brain with everyone she knew that could be associated with Alison.

"Oh!" Amy snaps with an _I know! _expression, "Is it Ronny?! The guy who comes in like once a week just to see you?"

Miranda gasps at Amy's revelation, snapping her neck into Alison's direction, "You actually gave him a chance?"

"Ugh, No." Alison disgustedly shudders off at her friend's first thought of someone she would jump into a relationship with, "He's a freaking creep. You guys are the only people who don't think he is."

"It's actually kind of romantic, if you think about it." Amy pouts as she looks off into the distance, taking Alison's repulsion with a grain of salt, "Comes in and buys something just to see you in hopes that you'd see that he's your prince charming and that you two would run away into the sunset on a horse and carriage." The blonde adoringly paints the picture as if she was summarizing all of the typical princess and her princess movies created through Disney.

"He's pushy and doesn't take no for an answer. That's not romantic, that's obsessive and borderline criminal-like." Alison pops Amy's bubble with a sharp pin.

"Well, do we know this person?" Miranda asks as she sets up a lineup in her head.

"You actually do, yes." Alison responds, trying to hide her smile as if it would give away the answer right then and there.

"Is it Carter?"

"No, not Carter."

"It's none of our ex's, right?" Amy pipes up in instant worry as she studies Alison's face, "Please don't tell me it is. I wouldn't be able to take that news so early in the day."

"Fuck no." Alison grimaces in annoyance at the mere thought of that scenario leaving Amy's head, "_C'mon_, you guys are so cold right now."

"_Okayokay_." Miranda shakes out her hands as if she was getting ready to play an intense game and needed to be completely ready, "You said it's someone we both know...Is it...is it Kevin, the redhead, from a few blocks back at Barnes &amp; Noble?"

"Hmm...Close."

"_Close_?" Amy asks as she quickly thinks of locations close to the bookstore with someone they know working in those proximities, "Ok is it...Is it Jack from the sports bar?" Amy waits for Alison to open her mouth before she cut her off with a celebration of her own for cracking the code, "Oh my gosh! _It's totally Jack!_ I fucking knew it."

"You're _very_ _hot_ but not Jack." Alison pops Amy's bubble once again, this time with more satisfaction knowing that we was wrong, "Which, to be honest, he likes _you_."

"_Me?!_" Amy throws her hand to her chest, not sure if she heard Alison's clearly on what she thought she said, "Jack likes _me?_"

"_Mhmm_. He would always ask about you when I'm there."

At that moment, Miranda gasps to herself, instantly catching the eye of Alison.

"_Hmmm_... I _do_ like the way his shirt always hugs his body and the way his arms are just so big that I could just hang on him. And also how his jeans fit _so_ right so you could see that he's…" Amy almost jumps for joy but opted for an excited round of victory clapping with a squeal to add, knowing that someone who was attractive actually liked her, "_Aha!_ Guess who's next to having a boyfriend!" The blonde teases with her pinching at the brunette walking besides her's arm, "Miranda, you better catch up, bitch! You're already looking like the Michelle out of us Beyoncé's and Kelly's."

"Shut the hell up, Amy." Miranda rolls her eyes as she pushes Amy off of her.

Amy continues to do a small walking two-step dance before a question popped into her mind that made her slow down, "But wait...how do you know this? You don't even go over there like that."

"Yes she does..." Miranda locks her eyes onto Alison like a hawk, knowing the information she held, "And I know _exactly_ why." Holding her poker face as Miranda hinted at what she thought she knew, Alison falters a bit and subtly begins to blush, making Miranda swoop in for the kill, "_Alison DiLaurentis!_" Miranda gasps, grasping onto Alison's arm as her smile spread from ear to ear, "_I knew it!_ I fucking knew it!"

"_What? What?!_" Amy quickly tries to interject into the information that she's left out on, "You knew what from the jump?"

"Oh my god, I totally called it a long time ago and you acted like I was delusional!"

"Wait! Who is it?!"

"But I knew! Someone put this on the billboards," The thrilled brunette extends her hands out in front of her as if she was reading a sign, "_Miranda always fucking knows_."

"Dammit, I hate it when you guys have inside jokes without me." Amy whines as she pushes both girls, standing there trying to get information but blatantly being ignored, "Who is it?! Tell me!"

"It's not Jack. But it's another type of bartender." Miranda slyly comments as her eyes refuses to leave Alison's face, making the blonde blush even more.

Amy thinks as hard as she can, trying to put a face to a name to every guy inside the bar but comes up short, "The only bartenders we really know is Emily…" Silence falls over the girls with Alison and Miranda saying nothing but Alison gushing uncontrollably at the mention of her name. Not understanding the silence at first, it finally hits Amy like a frozen brick hurled by a professional pitcher. "_Alison!_ Whaaaat?! You're dating Emily?!" Amy surprisingly gawks at the brand new news of who Alison's mystery person was and who has been stealing her away all this time, "Holy shit! When did this happen?! Oh my god! We so need to talk about this! Uh, Fuck this!" Amy grabs Miranda and Alison's hand and drags them past on passing walkers into the small pizza shop across from them, "Slices on me! You're _sooo_ going to spill _everything_!"

…..

Driving out of the city limits, pulling into an open space at the parking lot that they just drove into, Emily and the girls walk inside a large bright green establishment that captured the girls' eyes as if they had just walked into a candy story.

"Hi! Welcome to Speed Raceway!" A chipper front desk girl greets the potential customers. After debating for what seemed to be forever, the girls came to a decision that involved driving at fast speeds with a hint of recklessness to it. Choosing an upscale indoor kart racing facility was something that was not the first thing that came to mind, however with Emily's sporty nature for means of fun, everyone actually agreed that racing would actually a pretty fun idea. Just because you're not a kid anymore doesn't mean you can't enjoy kid-like things, Emily told her friends as they took the drive out there.

"Hey, this is our first time here and we're looking for a pretty good time." Emily smiles at the girl as she rests her arms against the front desk, looking up at the large display monitors on the wall in front of them.

"Great, welcome! So glad that you chose to spend your Saturday evening with us!" The teen responds with an excited smile, "If I could have you ladies go to our registering section over there," she points to an area in the corner of an open room with computers lined up and people signing in onto them, "it's a quick and painless process for you to get set up and ready to have you on the track."

"How big is this track?" Spencer questions as she looks around to the pretty spacious lobby area.

"We are actually the largest indoor electric kart racing facility on the entire east coast with our ¼ mile F1 inspired tracks."

All the girls look at each other with impressed eyes as Emily mentally boosts herself up for coming up with the idea of even coming to such place. Following the employee's instructions, the girls walk over to their own personal computer and start filling out basic information needed to complete their registration. Plugging in their information relatively easily, they come across an empty section that allows them to come up with their personal own racer name that gets displayed on the facilities "live-scoring" scoreboards during the races.

"Oh cool! We get to make our own names!" Aria glows at the small and simple fact of having the ability to have her name on the big screen. "I don't even know what to write down."

"Me neither," Hanna eagerly chimes in, trying to think of a cool nickname that she would want to call herself. The excitement in the air quickly disolves as each girl stares at the blinking cursor sitting on their screen with no means of answering it. With their brains half fuzzy because of the unlimited options, you could almost hear the uncertainty radiating off of them. "My name is going to be Queen Marin. All you bitches bow down to _me._" Hanna types with joy as she sits satisfied with her choice before she leans over towards Emily. "Put yours down as King Marin."

"And for every King and Queen, there is an Assassin." Spencer slyly comments aloud with her tongue pressed against her cheek.

"_Ooooh!_ That was a good one!" Aria smiles widely and high-fives the brunette before going back to her computer. "You should totally put that down."

"King Marin?" Emily strokes her chin and debates within herself as she continues to stare at the blinking cursor since she haven't even touched her keyboard.

"King Fields?" Aria chimes in for a suggestion as she still decides on her own.

"Daddy Fields." Hanna smirks with a small shimmy dance as wiggles her eyebrows at the brunette.

"No!" Emily playfully shoves Hanna with her face set on full disapproval mode, "That just makes me think of my dad."

"_Daddy DiLaurentis_." Spencer jumps at the opportunity with a smirk and shimmy of her own as everyone jerks their heads in her direction with different forms of surprise at such a name. "_What?_ It has a catchy ring to it!"

"Spencer, why the hell?" Hanna pinches her eyebrows together in displeasure as Spencer brought down the mood with her wild suggestion of a name. _Out of all the names in the world to choose, Spencer has to pick that combination._

"I mean…it is…catchy…." Emily takes on the name with much like, however, she just laughs at herself for even thinking of picking such thing. "But why would I have a name with Daddy in it?"

"What would you prefer? Mommy?" Spencer responds back with a brow arched, questioning Emily's parental name choosing. "To be considered _daddy_ is a good thing."

"If you're talking about delivering in bed, yeah…" Aria tries to whisper to herself but ends up being heard by everyone, making all the girls crack up at her non-slick remark. Everyone but the blonde herself who tries not to gag.

"_Excuse me_…Wife here. Don't want to hear that." Hanna irritatedly stabbed at her keyboard in front of her as the rest of her friends continued to laugh around her annoyance. "Let's just finish with this thing so we can start our races."

After a collective five minutes passed by with everyone trying to think of a name, the girls finally finish up their registration and head back to the front desk to finish with their payment and speak to one of the establishment's customer service staff at the front counter to schedule their races.

"Thank you for registration with us. Now, for our adult racing, it's $20 a person for a race of 14 laps." The worker informs the group, "Your racing experience will last approximately 8-10 minutes depending on how fast you're driving. Now, the minimum height requirement for the adult track is 56 inches-" As if everyone had the exact same thought in mind, every single girl's head snaps into Aria's direction with their own form of a smug, mocking laugh.

"Looks like you're taking the junior track, Aria!" Hanna teases with her tongue caressing the surface of her front teeth, loving any opportunities to poke fun at the shorter on of the group.

"Sorry, Ar. This is for big kids only." Spencer bends down, putting her hands on her knees, talking to Aria as if she was a small child, "I'm sure you'll have just as much fun with the little kids."

"Fuck of all you, okay?" Aria shoves Spencer off-balance with everyone still laughing at the unfortunate news on the smaller brunette's behalf, "How tall is 56 inches, ma'am?"

The young employee laughs at the innocent joking among friends, seeing one of her of her own friends in each girl, "It's about 4'8."

"Ha!" Aria jumps up proudly with joy as she points a wagging finger at everyone, "I'm 5'2! So _all of you _can shut the hell up."

"Okay, Rumpelstiltskin, calm down. Nobody gave you their new born yet." Spencer playfully pushes Aria to the side as she approaches the front desk, pulling out her wallet from her purse. "Alright, so you guys heard the girl. Pay up." All the girls dig through their purse and wallets to total out their individual total of $20. After the transactions were completed and finalized, the young employee prints out a receipt for each girl.

"Seeing that this is the weekend and we're hitting some traffic, there is a small wait time for your group of racers to hit the track."

"How long is it?" Hanna asks, shoving her receipt into her purse.

"About 20-25 minutes." The worker politely smiles at the unfortunate news at the wait time, "The screen over there will tell you when it's time to go into that backroom right there to give you guys all the rules and equipment needed before the race." The girls nod in understanding and the employee gives her thanks and goodbyes as she gets ready to tend the people waiting behind the girls.

"25 minutes…" Emily walks along with the group, bouncing her head from side to side in ponderation with a pout to her lips, "That's not too long. I think its fine."

"We don't have much of a choice, we already paid." Aria groans as they slowly walk towards the middle of the lobby with no sense of direction or what to do next. They begin to huddle around like penguins as each of them mentally think of a plan to make 25 minutes pass by.

"You know…I have an idea." Hanna starts up with a side smirk on her face showing its appearance as she gives each girl a look.

"Uh oh, here we go." Emily crosses her arms in amusement, leaning closer to the blonde, "What do you got?"

"Do you guys wonder how much fun we would have…." Hanna looks around and lowers her voice, causing all the girls to lean in closer to her in curiosity, "if we do this drunk?"

"Ok, yeah-no that won't work because we have to drive back after this." Spencer leans back, immediately shaking her head, shooting the thought of the suggestion down. "Besides, I highly doubt they'll let us in intoxicated. Nice try, though. Anyone else?"

"Ok, then fine. We'll drink just a little bit." Hanna continues to push her idea on with her voice still lowered.

"_Hanna_," Spencer crosses her arms and shoots the blonde a look of disbelief as her "mom-mode" was activated on full blast, "How are we gonna-"

"Ok, fine!" Hanna scoffs, throwing her hands up in surrender before she slaps Emily's arm, "Emily, don't drink. You're driving us back."

"_Na uh!_ If anything, I wanna drink." Emily instantly protests back like a child who was just told that they had to babysit their siblings while everyone else got to have fun. She takes a step back with her hands raised, throwing herself out of the equation, "I'm not driving."

"Ok, _Spencer_. Since you were all high and mighty against the idea-"

"I said it was a bad idea. Doesn't mean I didn't want to drink." Spencer defends herself shamelessly before she looks between Hanna and Emily with an unapologetic shrug.

"Aria…" Hanna calls out as everyone turns to the smaller brunette who shoots a baffled look right back,

"Don't even look at me." She takes a step back alongside Emily with her hands in the air, "I'm pro drinking."

Hanna rolls her eyes at everyone wanting to drink but nobody wanting to take responsibility of getting back and she knows for sure it won't be her since she came up with the idea. "Fine. Rock, paper, scissors. Loser stays sober."

"Alright," Spencer straightens up with a smug, competitive smile that tried to be hidden but failed, "You vs Em and Aria vs Me. Loser from both battle each other."

Taking on the challenge, Emily and Hanna stand in front of each other with their backs towards Spencer and Aria who steps up for a duel. At their own pace, the sound of hands smacking against skin fills the small circle they were in, causing other eyes to wander, speculating what was going on.

"_Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"_

"Haha!"

"Dammit!"

Already claiming lives in the first round, Hanna and Spencer look onto each other with victory smiles as Emily and Aria slowly turn around to face each other in grief. Waiting until they both were ready, Emily takes a deep breath as Aria shakes out her hands before they look at each other, prepared for the final battle.

"_Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"_

Emily hisses out a fist pump in triumph, giving Hanna a high five as Aria's face sagged with gloom, knowing that while everyone gets to have a goodtime, she'll be the only one sober and miserable.

"_Fuck_," Aria whines with her arms tightly crossed and eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at Emily, Hanna, and Spencer having their small celebration, "That's not fair."

Emily slows down her small party and looks onto Aria with a sympathetic pout. She walks over and places a kind hand on Aria's shoulder, ready for her encouraging words, "_Hey_…you chose paper. Blame your poor life decisions." Aria slaps Emily's hand off her as she still held onto her mean-mug, feeling hurt that she should have went with her gut and chose rock.

"Okay, _looklooklook_. I got a better idea." Hanna pulls everyone in closer to her, grabbing onto Aria's arm especially as she lowers her voice to a whisper again, "Why don't we _all_ drink, call a taxi when we're done, then come get the car when one of us sobered up?" She gives a light-hearted shrug as she looks onto all three girls for approval, "We won't be drunk all day."

The once pouted lips curl into a joyful smile as Aria's face lights up in complete bliss, "I'm all for that idea!" Aria excitedly agrees as she squeezes onto Hanna for saving her day.

"We're going to leave the rental and waste money on a taxi to go where?" Spencer skeptically questions, squinting her eyes in the blonde's direction as she tries to understand her brand new solution.

"Back to Em's place. Then two of us can ride back in Emily's car to pick up the rental."

"We're a little far out but…" Emily contemplates the idea, leaning more on the side of agreeing as she maps out her apartment and their location in her head, "that doesn't sound bad at all, actually." Everyone's eyes find Spencer's as they wait for her to throw her hat in for the suggestion. Seeing that she looked as if she was going to say something against the proposal, Hanna and Aria both groan at the same time, knowing that she won't just give in.

"C'mon, Spence. Lighten up and be impulsive for once." The smaller brunette whines with slight annoyance. If Spencer doesn't agree to the idea, Aria is going to be stuck being the parent of the group and she refuses to wear that title all because she lost a game of rock, paper, scissors.

"_Fine_." Spencer rolls her eyes, throwing her arms down by her sides. Before she was able to breathe out another word, Hanna grabs her and Emily and leads everyone towards the exit doors of the establishment.

"Great!" The blonde gushes with victory, interlocking everyone as if they were walking to see the Wizard of Oz, "I saw a liquor store not too far from here. I think it was down the street."

…

"So, you've never stayed over her apartment?"

"Hers? No. But she's stayed over mines for a few days before."

"_Mhmmm_..."

"Okay, okay!" Amy eagerly waves her hands in the air to get Alison's attention as she sits with Miranda on the opposite side of the table from the blonde, "So, what happened today?"

After being shoved into the pizzeria to spill her guts, sitting in the far corner by themselves, Amy and Miranda sat like excitedly school children, listening to Alison explain herself with her new-found love, "I came over and her friends had flew in last night so they were there this morning-"

"Are you friends with her friends?" Amy jumps in, speaking out the first question that came to her mind, not meaning to cut Alison off but enthusiastically wanting to know the details.

"I mean..." Alison looks down at her two slices of peperoni pizza as she begin to rip the crust off one of them, "I know them but….we ran in different circles _so_..."

"Okay, gotcha. So they like you, right?" Amy swirls her straw around through the lid with the tip of her right index finger with curious eyes, "Because friends is like a step below family."

"Yeah, the parents don't have to like you but if the friends don't like you, that's a whole another thing." Miranda adds in with agreement as she wipes the side of her mouth with a napkin before she nods her head to the left of her in Amy's direction, "Just like I couldn't stand Evan when Amy was dating him."

"_Hey_," Amy turns her head to face Miranda with a slight gasp, "you didn't even give him a chance."

"I didn't need to when he _stole _my watch and then try to sell it back to me!" Miranda scoffs back at Amy with her eyebrows pinched in exasperation and irritation at the mere thought of the con artist Amy once called boyfriend.

"Well, we are just starting to know each other for the most part but…" Alison takes another ripped piece of her pizza and places it in her mouth, chewing it at a slow pace, "they like me."

Miranda nods approvingly as she folds her pizza in half, ready to take a big bite, "Good, good. That's good."

"Okay, but let's get to the real nitty-gritty." Amy leans into the table with scheming, narrowing eyes pierced into Alison who looks back at her confused as she continued to chew on the left side of mouth, "How is she?"

"How is she?"

"How _IS_ she?"

Miranda shoots Amy a pair of wide eyes as she slaps her thigh under the table, "_Amy-_"

"_Hey! I'm just asking!_" Amy raises her shoulders and pitch in her voice, defending her logic of questioning as she looks back at Miranda. She changes her sights onto Alison who also gawks back at the blonde with her head tilted, "L-Look-This is your first time with a girl, right?"

Alison slowly nods her head, dragging her voice along, "Yeah-"

"There you go." Amy snaps in validation before she reaches for her cup of soda, with a satisfying pucker of her lips, "I'm just being a Curious George. _Besides_, athletes have a lot of stamina. _Plus!_ She's a _swim-mer_." The blonde leans back into her steel chair with her hand holding her cup resting on her chest comfortably, "That means she has a lot of stamina _and_ coordination. And strength! _Have you seen those arms?_"

"Oh god, and the endurance." Miranda sighs out as she leans back in realization as well to what Amy was saying. Miranda glances up at Alison with her mouth twisted to the side in contemplation, "We might have to put you onto some Jillian Michaels just so you can be able to keep up." Miranda's eyes thins onto Alison's hand as she watches the blonde raise her pizza to her mouth. "Put that pizza down!" Before Alison had the opportunity to taste the cheesy cheese, Miranda throws her finger at her, causing Alison to stop mid-way, "You have to be able to last at least 3 rounds. Each lasting about 30 minutes to an hour. Depending how everyone's mood is. Pizza is only going to make you tired and lazy."

Alison lets out a small laugh before she took a bite of her pizza anyway despite her friend's warning. "I don't see the big deal honestly. So what she does sports?" Alison shakes her head at both her friends as she hovers her hand over her mouth while she chewed, "It doesn't really correlate to anything."

"_Doesn't correlate?!_" Miranda counters back in utter surprise as she and Amy both leaned into the table, ogling back at the blonde's frame of thought with hanging mouths, "_It correlates!_"

"It intersects! It overlaps!" Amy adds in with just as much push behind the brunette as she continued to stare at Alison with wide eyes almost as if she was hurt, "Being an athlete makes you different physically, mentally, and emotionally from most people."

Using her fingers as a counting guide, Miranda prepares to teach Alison a thing or two about athletes, especially the college kind, "First of all, they have drive."

"They want to improve every day." Amy enhances Miranda's commentary with her own translation, "They can't be satisfied with their last performance. That also includes bedroom performances." Amy's eyebrows raise up to her forehead with a definite nod of her head, "_Challenges_."

"They have self-confidence." Miranda continues through Alison's head shaking, resting her index finger of her right hand on the ring finger of her left.

"They know what their working with and know what they bring to the bedroom."

"They're focused."

"They know what the main priority is at hand." Amy cocked her head slightly to one side, bring her voice to a whisper with her and Alison's eye contact still in-tact, "_And that's an orgasm_."

"They have commitment." Miranda ignores Amy's annotations as she carries on to push through to Alison what makes athletes different, hoping that she's listening to what _she _was saying more importantly.

"They won't stop _until_ you have an orgasm." Amy snaps with mischievous smirk, making Alison let out a chuckle as she looked down at her plate, unbelieving where their conversation to a turn to.

"They're aggressive."

"Rough in the sheets."

"They have a high tolerance for pain."

"They can push their body to the limit. _And yours._"

"They have to be adaptable."

"Different positions."

"And they understand time management."

"_Beep._ Times up. Next position."

"Besides, Emily is Emily Fields." Miranda shakes her head with a shrug and a smile before she reached down for her drink to quench her thirst from a mini teaching moment, "She has all those qualities."

"_And then _some." Amy flicks an eyebrow as she leans back into her chair with her arms crossed, feeling that she really drove her point home.

Alison surrenders as she waves her hands in the air, signaling no more from their lecture, "_Okay, okay._ You've made your point." The blonde cleans off her fingers with a untouched napkin before she throws it on top of her empty plastic plate that once held her two slices of pizza, "_God_, you guys haven't been _this_ in-sync since….since our talk about Michael Fassbender."

Bringing back memories to such conversation and such guy, both friends visibly relax, sighing out in bliss as they give their opinions out at the same time.

"I want to lick his face." Miranda shakes her head with her eyes gazing past Alison as her imagination takes over.

"Michael can _fastbang me_, anytime." A devious smile creeps onto Amy's face as rests bites down on her thumb, sharing most likely the same thoughts Miranda is.

"Ok-no-_stop_." Alison waves her hands yet again to bring her friends down to earth, remembering they're in public and not in the privacy of closed doors.

"But, honestly, I'm loving this." Miranda's face lightens up with a bright smile as her eyes soften on Alison sitting in front of her, "I love the idea of you getting nasty for someone when nobody is around." Before Alison had the opportunity to open her mouth and say something, like coordinated Siamese cats, Amy's eyebrows wiggles with the same cunning look.

"_Yes._" The blonde bites on her bottom lip with sly undertone, "You hooking up with a hot, champion swimmer is my new aesthetic."

Alison sighs as she pouched her lips out, observing over her friends carefully as she pondered her words, "Well…since you guys seem to know _everything_ about _everything_-"

"_Mhmm. We do."_

"_We're like your fairly oddsisters."_

"There is something that has come to my mind, recently..." Alison turned her head to one side but kept her eyes on friends, making them lean forward, listening with their entire bodies.

…

Walking back into Speed Raceway with their waiting time just about up, the four girls approach the front desk in means of making sure it was time to get ready to race.

"Ah, yes!" The young employee checks her time-slot on her computer screen before she leans over the desk to point the group in the right direction, "Just head through those doors and you will be briefed and ready to drive. Good luck!"

….

"People are competitive, no matter what you do-if it's at your friend's house, in a casual situation and as soon as competition comes up, everybody gets real serious about it, everyone wants to win-it's that," a male employee informs the girls along with a few other people added in their game slot as everyone applies on their head sock that protects the hair from underneath the helmet. "And with these bad boys hitting up to 50 miles per hour, there will be some competition."

Going over the rules, do's and don'ts, and given the proper headgear, everyone steps out onto the indoor track with the overpowering smell of gasoline burning their noses upon entrance. However, such smell pumps them up for the battle that is soon to begin.

"_Queen Marin! Rocketboy! S. Assassin!_ _Hairy Grandma! Big A! Violet Captain! And Daddy DiLaurentis, please choose your karts!"_

With the names begin called out loud over the intercom, it gives a sense of surrealism and a trail of goosebumps going down Emily's arms. Although the track isn't in water, she's traces the outline of the lap seamlessly with her eyes like a lion scouting its environment, getting ready to mark the territory theirs.

"You're gonna _fucking loooose, _Emily." Hanna elbows the brunette as she leans all over, trying to hold her balance from the tunnel vision the helmets are giving her mixed with the alcohol in her system.

"_We'll see._" Emily cockily responds back as adjusts her helmet to her liking, feeling a sensation of adrenaline cruising through her body. "You know, I'm not a champion for nothing. I win everywhere. _Remember that_."

"Ooooh, I like that bark." Spencer waltz up behind the two girls, taking a hand to Emily's shoulder, soothingly rubbing her down, "Too bad it has no _bite._" The brunette ends her sentence with a thick slap to Emily's back, making sure she felt and knew of her presence before the race. "This isn't the mall or the pool, bimbos. Neither of you can handle curves like I can."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can." Emily chuckles brazenly with an extra swing in her walk and pep in her step, keeping her eyes forward, focused on which kart she was going to take, "On _and_ off the track."

"_Ooooh!" _A random male employee skips past the girls with his hand raised over his mouth, catching the banter between Spencer and Emily as he walked to his station. Emily flicks him a acknowledging head nod, feeling weightless and extra confident in herself all of a sudden.

"Whatever, you guys," Aria slides up from the middle, pushing through Emily and Spencer as she took the middle position, "You're all going to lose to _me_."

"Get the hell out of here." Emily playfully shoves Aria into Spencer, taking everything she said in means of smack-talking with 0%.

"This is the only vehicle you can fucking drive and see simultaneously, Aria." Hanna spits back as she approached the vertical line of jet black go-karts with green sides and seats to match the track barriers and the rest of the business's color scheme, "Maybe all those secret playtimes you've been having with those toddler Flintstone cars will finally pay off and give you some kind of edge over us."

"_Ohshit_." Spencer snorts aloud while she bumps into Emily and they both duck their way in-between the blonde and brunette, not even trying to hide their laughter as they approach their kart.

Narrowing her eyes at the blonde smirking away inside her helmet, Aria purposely cuts in front of Hanna, colliding her shoulder into her's as she walks to her open kart. "Fuck you and your entire family, Hanna. Now, I'm going to make sure I personally murder your ass."

"Look!" Hanna gasps as she walks up to her go kart, crouch down, inspecting it as if she's never seen it before. "You don't even have to kick start this one, Aria!" Hanna carelessly laughs her way through her sentence knowing that she's getting under Aria's skin, "You just ride and go!"

"Wow_, _I didn't know _Chelsea fucking Handler_ was Speed Raceway's opening act." Aria retorts back on beat as she lowers herself into her race kart.

"Alright, everyone! Time to get ready and fasten your seatbelts! Make sure you're inside tightly!" Another young female employee yells for all to hear as she walks down the lane of karts, making sure everyone is following the rules, "Left petal is for acceleration and the right is your brakes! Do not press both down at the same time, you won't get anywhere!" Seeing that Emily's seatbelt was clicked in but hanging on her loosely, the redhead stops her instructing as leans over inside of Emily's cart and tugs on her belt tighter to her chest, "You're in comfortable?"

"_Mhmmm…_" Emily sings as she began to roll up her sleeves, keeping her eyes forward and on the prize, not tempting to look at the relatively attractive girl smiling in her face.

"Good." The worker springs back up into action as she checks on the other racers to make sure everyone's good to go.

"Who wants to make this game worthwhile?!" Emily yells out knowing that her friends her in front and behind her, not noticing how loud she truly was with her voice echoing open area, "Everyone put down $20! Winner takes the pot!"

"I'm in because I know I'm gonna beat all of you bitches!" Hanna cackles at the front of the line, throwing her head back as she restfully squirms in her seat.

"I'm in just because you said that!" Spencer's voice floats from behind Emily, "Now, I'm going to make sure you lose!"

Emily waits for a moment for another voice but is met with the continuation of Hanna's laughter instead, "_Aria?!_"

"She's probably too busy choking on the seatbelt since she doesn't have a booster seat!" Hanna replies instead making Spencer laugh out loud and everyone else giggle to themselves at the entertainment the four girls are putting on for free.

"You're gonna be choking on this dick after I beat you, Hanna!" Aria yells back as she tightens her grip on the wheel and her foot itching to press down on the petal. Her response is greeted with a few hoots and ooohs encouraging the rivalry starting to brew as she stares at the back of Hanna's helmet, "I'm putting down $40!"

"So we have some money betting and some dick sucking happening after this race," A teenage male worker leans over his conputer that registers the score-screen with a sly smile on his clean shaven face, "I fucking love this group already!"

"Alright! Is everyone ready to race?!" The female employee jogs to the front of the starting line, getting ready to disband the racers one by one.

"Oh good lord..." Emily laughs quietly to herself as she grips the steering wheel with her left hand, resting her right on her lap ready for the 'Go!' mark. "This is going to be a fucking train wreck."

**Ooooh…What an insightful and fun chapter this was, eh?**

**On one side of the city you have Alison and her friends giving her the pep talk of what to expect out of her new relationship (as best friends should) and then on the other side city, Emily and the three almost drunk stooges are getting ready to possibly kill each other.**

_**Can't you just feel the love radiating through the smog-infested city air?!**_

**It's only one night left before Aria, Spencer, and Hanna leave back to their lives elsewhere in the morning and its quality time for Alison and Emily. However, how is the road pathed to that point beforehand? **

**What did you like about this chapter? A lot of information was learned! Like for example, Aria doesn't like short jokes too tough and is probably going to wreck Hanna on the track, Emily is feeling like John Travolta in **_**Saturday Night Fever**_**, Alison has acquired a newfound confidence while Amy and Miranda have no problem talking sex in the corner of a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria that sells a dollar a slice. Man...Saturday is starting off as a good day.**


	25. Chapter 25: Self Control?

**I swear I feel like I have the best and **_**smartest **_**readers. Whenever I'm climaxing to something happening, there is always **_**one **_**person that writes a review stating what they want happening WHEN IT WAS **_**THE THING**_** I WAS GONNA MAKE HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. *Le sigh* I think I'm gonna have to switch things up. Keep you guys on your tippy-toes.**

**To answer your question Camryn7938: Will they go back to Rosewood for a visit? Hmmmm...They maybe will have to for something in the future :)**

**But guess who's done with classes for the winter break!**

**No, it's not Bob from next door. **_**C'mon, guys, do better!**_

**I know you guys are probably like, "Dang, AM! I need you to update faster! I need my Emison fix and you're about to give me withdrawals with this updating schedule."**

**Look. I got you guys. This chapter, if you didn't know, has freaking 13k words. I honestly don't know how I got it to be that long, I was just typing and it just kept growing. I didn't want to split this into two chapters because then we'd have 4 total chapters focusing on just one day and that's a bit overboard to me. So here! Take my peace offering! And enjoy it!**

CHAPTER #25: Self-Control?

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed

Wringing the steering wheel in her hands, Emily sits impatiently as she watches the female Raceway worker let out each racer one by one at safe distance. When Emily approaches the line, she waits for the okay signal and slowly drives off, following the direction of the track behind Aria. With the instructions of the race, each driver were released to sluggishly maneuver to a certain point -with enough distance in-between each racer- where they could then fly off to their heart's desire. Emily stretches out her neck from side to side as she lags behind the kart in front of her, anticipating to put her pedal to metal.

With a few more seconds lingering by, Hanna punts her gas and peels off, leading the pack, causing each driver behind her to rev up and push themselves to pick up speed. The combined roaring of engines echoes throughout the entire track as everyone became their own version of a championship NASCAR racer. With the advantage of being first, Hanna sits pretty at first place as everyone tries to one-up each other to take in second. Even if that means throwing in a few head games.

….

"Oh yesyesyes _yes…_" Amy grabs a blue satin top from the rack of clothes she was skimming through and holds it up at eye level for Miranda and Alison to look at. Both girls saunter in the blonde's direction as they individually examine the blouse.

"That's cute." Miranda pouts out her bottom lip with the nod of her head as she touches the fabric of the shirt and rubs it between her index finger and thumb.

"What size is that?" Alison joins in as she reaches for the tag hanging off the collar of the top. She flips the paper in their direction to look at the size when her eyes catches the bolded price underneath the M letter. As if they all shared their thoughts on the same wavelength, Alison and Miranda silently turn up their noses and spin around in the opposite direction while Amy shamefully places the blouse back on the rack.

"_Anyways_…." The blonde slowly takes a few steps backwards with a grimace on her face, "I've always been a fan of clearance. Where's the poor people rack?" Amy lets out a chuckle as she walks where Miranda and Alison stood while they continue to glimpse through the articles of clothing for some Saturday shopping.

"As I was saying before we were rudely attacked by that sales price…" Miranda eases her way back into her previous conversation. She peeks at Alison through the corner of her eye and can feel the uncomfortable aura radiating off her as her hands passes through the cluster of jeans in front of her. Seeing this only makes the brunette smirk to herself as she puts her eyes back forward, "Amy?"

"Mhm?"

"I feel like we're slacking on our duty as friends."

"Huh?" Amy answers back with her eyes not leaving the new blouse that caught her eyes on. She immediately checks for the price tag to avoid another surprise before she visibly relaxes, "What duty?"

"The duty of _interrogation_." Miranda grins, sliding her tongue out in-between her teeth as she cheekily peeks at Alison who gapes right back at her with her eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing, Dani?"

"_Nothing!_" Miranda innocently shrugs her shoulders, "I'm just saying….Amy and I have yet to talk to Miss. Fields-"

"You both have spoken to her." Alison shakes her head with a roll of her eyes as she goes back to her clothing rack, "On several occasions."

"Yeah but that was a _'you're our friendly bartender who's handling our drinks'_ talk. Not a _'you're our friendly bartender who's handing our drinks after you've made out with our best friend in your car before you clocked in for work'_ talk." Miranda turns in Alison's direction with her arms crossed, holding the stance of a big sister, "We didn't give her the rundown. We didn't ask 21 questions. We didn't turn into the dads with the shotgun in our laps as she came to pick you up for your first date, telling her to bring you back by 10 on the dot."

"She's right." Amy spins towards both girls in confirmation with her eyebrows raised, "She hasn't done the '_meeting the parents_' thing."

"Well, obviously, my _parents _aren't here so we kinda skipped that step." Alison retorts back on beat as she hangs back a pair of jeans she was examining, not daring to look at the two girls with their scheming eyes and swindling faces.

"Which is why you have _us_," Amy places a gentle hand on Alison's shoulder, lightly pushing her blonde hair to the side with a friendly smile, "your second family, to do that deed for you, Ms. DiLaurentis."

"No-I….I don't know…"

"Don't know?" Miranda scoffs out a knowing laugh as she flips over the tank top in her hands, "Sorry, Ali, this is already happening whether you approve or not."

"Besides, see it as a favor. We might pick up on something that you didn't. For all we know, what if she's running game on you?" Alison gives Amy a sharpened stare with her brows lined and head cocked to the side as Miranda nods in the background. "Just because she's a girl doesn't mean squat." Amy defends herself with both hands raised, surrendering from Alison's stare down, "Girls are just as grimy as guys, if not worse."

For what seemed like the millionth time, Alison rolls her eyes with a deep exhale as she guards herself and Emily from her prying, nosy step-sister like friends, "She's not grimy. I can fully attest to that."

"Well, we want _fully attest to that _too." Miranda replies with a hint of teasing before a lightbulb moment hits her, brightening her face up with a splendid idea that just came to mind, "I say that we should see her today."

Amy's mouth drops in a smile as she locks eyes with the brunette, matching her impression, "_Yes_. Yes we shall."

"_NO._" Alison disapprovingly raises her voice a little higher than expecting, making Miranda giggle to herself. Alison clears her throat and takes a second to contain herself before she talks back at her normal voice level, "You guys can't just _waltz_ over to her place and see her today. Her friends flew in. I told you guys that already."

"Hmm. You're right." Amy pulls her phone out of her purse and unlocks her screen with her lips pouted in disappointment, "We're going to have to do it when they leave tomorrow. And don't you dare coach her, Ali." Amy snaps with her finger pointed at Alison in a warning.

"What do you think Emily is doing _right now?_ At this _very _second?" Miranda asks in curiosity of Alison's response since the topic of the whole entire day seemed to be Emily.

Alison shakes her head in thought as she pulls out a plain, black long sleeve shirt, "Probably out somewhere just laughing with her friends. Being _kind_ and _respectful_ as she always is."

_-Concurrently-_

"MOVE, _BITCH!_ GET OUT THE WAY! GET OUT THE WAY, _BITCH_, GET OUT THE WAY!_" _Emily chants over the thundering sound of her engine bellowing and tires squealing as she rides on Hanna's back, mocking her with an ever so childish beam accompanied by squinted eyes behind her helmet. Thrusting her pedal to the ground, Emily pushes through herself to ride the inside of a wide turn on the track, driving almost side to side with Hanna. Leaning on her right from the quick drifting, Emily shoots a glance at her blonde competitor, waving to her before she boosts the gas and takes the lead, straightening out on a straightaway to take off in front of everyone. "_Whoooo!_" Emily hollers out as she upkeeps her speed with her name, _Daddy DiLaurentis_, switched to first place on the score-board.

"Dammit!" Hanna curses inside of her helmet before she hears the revving of another engine. Before she had the chance to see who was creeping up behind her, she was cut off by yet another racer, causing her to hit her breaks to prevent her from hitting their back bumper.

"_HIT THE BRICKS, BITCH!_" Aria raises her middle finger high and proud for her temporary rival behind her, crackling evilly to herself seeing that she got in front of Hanna just as she promised she would do. On their 6th lap out of 14, throughout the race, many positions have been changed and rudely taken in the name of competition. Leading the pack is Emily showing everybody who's boss, followed by Aria, Hanna, and then Spencer with the other racers in their group in-between them.

"_Aye, Georgie!_" A young, blond employee calls out to his co-worker controlling the boards. The teen turns around just in time to see a small bag of Chex Mix being tossed in his direction. Using his quick reflexes, he catches the snack in his left hand as his friend approaches him cracking open his bottle of red Gatorade. "Who do you got on this race?"

"I dunno..." George clicks his tongue as he watches the group battle it out with each other at every turn, trying to gain an advantage, "D.D seems to be working everyone right now." The young employee rips open his Chex Mix and digs in for a few pretzel squares, "But my eyes are also on both S. Assassin and Hairy Grandma. The way they are cuttin' these corners, one of them might surprise everyone with the come-up."

Sean takes a large swallow of his drink before he nods his head in the direction of the track, "Which one is D.D? The tall brunette with the dark jean jacket?"

"Yeah."

"_Daddy DiLaurentis_, huh?" Sean laughs through his smirk as screw the cap back onto his drink, placing it on top of the counter next to the computer George stands in front of. "And which one was the doing the whole dick sucking thing? That was her too, right?"

"_Nah._ It was I think Big A, the smaller chick in that circle of friends and Queen Marin, the blonde one." He shakes in head in amusement as he munches on his food, talking through the side of his mouth, "She was talking _mad shit_."

Sean begins to chuckle as he pulls out his iPhone out of his pocket, checking out his recent notifications, "Well damn, my money is on Big A then. She had my heart at _you're gonna be choking on this dick_. Haha!" Sean rocks back and forth on his heel as howls out a loud laugh, causing George to chuckle at the unexpected, foul comeback from the tipsy brunette, "Never thought hearing those words come out a girl would sound so hot."

"You're a clown, man." George narrows his eyes as he looks out into the track before he glances down at his keyboard to get ready to change up the leaderboards once again.

"C'mon, bruh. Tell me you wouldn't wanna see that." The blond stretches out his neck, tilting it to the side as he peers at his friend from the corner of his eye. He mischievously smirks at him as he playful smacks his arm knowing that he wasn't alone in that thought, "_Tell me you wouldn't wanna see that_."

"Looks like you probably won't because…" George hits a few keys on his computer and switches the positions on the leadership boards, "My girl, S. Assassin, just overtook Big A. Just like I told you she would."

"_TAKE THAT WEAK SHIT BACK TO CANDY LAND, ARIA!_" Spencer exclaims out as she zips past Aria, taking the lead in front of her with her kart positioned in a way to block her in, not allowing her much movement to pass her. "This is _my_ fucking lane, dammit." Spencer grumbles to herself in means confidence -both liquid confidence and adrenaline- as she targets the next driver in front of her. Speeding as fast as possible, the battle tightens as everyone kicks up their game and begins to take things seriously as if it was a fight of the century: _Battle for Go-Karting Royalty_. With the leads changing hands ever so often, Emily continues to coast at the top with everyone dominating to take her place. With another driver keeping close tabs on the brunette, a sharp turns makes its well-acquainted appearance as Emily eases up on the gas and cuts her wheel, making sure she doesn't crash into any of the walls barriers. Taking their opportunity at Emily's tactic, another green kart thrusts their gas and slides right up beside her, driving on the inside of the turn to gain the advantage of straightening out quicker and taking her #1 place. Caught off-guard with the limited space, Emily immediately floors it mid-turn and tries to cut off her opponent but ends up drifting in front of them longer than she anticipated, causing the second driver to crash into her, slamming them both into a wall.

"_Shit!_" George and Sean both cringe in unison watching the crash play out from the distance.

"_Fuck!_" Emily hisses out as she jerks forward from the impact, leaving both racers stopped right on the outside of the turn. A stationed employee blows their whistle as they sprint to the crash, signaling to the other drivers to stop because of the location of the accident. However, being so close towards each other, with an inappropriate amount of alcohol in their system, reaction time unfortunately wasn't their strongest asset.

_And in slow-motion everything turned._

Emily hears the loud skidding of tires against the concrete and turns her head into the direction of her friends coming full speed ahead. "SHIT-_NO!_"

Spencer hits the turn and crashes right into the side of Emily's kart, causing Emily to scrape more into the wall, whiplashing Spencer forward at the sudden impact "_Fuck!_"

Right behind Spencer, Aria catches onto the three person crash and immediately hits her breaks mid drift to prevent herself from hitting anyone. Successfully prevailing, Aria lets out a few deep breaths to accompany her racing heart, realizing she was seconds away from violently crashing into the three other drivers. Without warning, Aria gets struck from the back by Hanna flying down the turn, sending her into Spencer who is partnering with another driver pinning Emily against the wall. The dashing employee wildly blows his whistle, waving his hands as another worker runs out at full speed to the corner that is housing a now 5 kart pileup.

"_Holy fucking shit, Hanna!_" Aria spits out as she whips her head into the blonde's direction behind her. "You couldn't fucking stop?!"

"I didn't fucking _see_ you!" Hanna angrily throws out her hand, yelling back in self-defense, "It's not my fault your riding so low to the damn ground!"

Aria attempts to turn her body to face Hanna, stopping halfway because of her seat belt as she feel herself getting irritated, "You know what! You did that shit on purpose!"

"_On purpose?!_ I was fucking-"

"That was a pathetic move." The guy behind the helmet of the go kart pressed against Emily calls her out with the opportunity to do so, "You knew I was about to take your spot. That's why you did that little maneuver to crash us both."

The two workers rush over to the drivers, checking to make sure there weren't any serious injuries or damages to their karts. "Are you guys okay?" They ask everyone involved as they quickly check on everyone for any harm.

"_Uh huh. Ok. Sure_." Emily sarcastically nods her head as she dusts off her jeans, feeling a sense of boldness with the random trash talking from the random guy who decided it was okay to start in with her, "Whatever you gotta tell yourself, buddy. Whatever you gotta tell yourself." Ignoring the employees around her, hearing what sounded like the guy responding back with a smart remark, Emily leans to the side with her right hand cuffed against her helmet where her ear would be, "I'm sorry, what did you say? What did you say?"

"You heard me."

Emily let's out a chuckle, not taking the guy serious at his attempt to get underneath her skin, "All you can do is talk shit because you know I've been leading first place for majority of the laps now."

"And I've been beating you, Hanna!" Aria yells back at the blonde as she was pulled backwards, by a worker, from the other drivers in front of her, creating room between everyone as the employees spaces them out, "You can make fun all you want but I'm fucking _beating you_."

"You're only beating me because I-"

"_You're only beating me because_," Aria mocks Hanna's voice with a more annoying tone as she uses her hand to mimic a pacman like mouth, "You're just making up excuses now because you know I'm right!"

Starting to get annoyed at her yapping, Hanna leans forward into her seat and points at Aria, "Listen here, _you Hobbit_."

Emily begins laughing, getting herself comfortable as she leans in the direction of Spencer beside her, who is having the time of her life witnessing the mini arguments going on from both sides of her, "Who the hell is this, Spencer?" The brunette giggles, knowing that the competitive drive is building up more and more inside of her, "I don't know who he is."

"He's clearly a _hurt, widdlo boy_ under that helmet crashing into people like its bumper cars." Spencer pouts out her lip in an insulting sense, causing Emily to laugh purposely out loud just because she knows she can.

"You're gonna know who the _fuck I am_. You both will." The unidentified young male growls back with just as much of taunting in his voice, tightly grasping his wheel as his kart was being pulled back into a reasonable distance to start up the race again.

"I don't know who the fuck _you are_ but _you know_ who the fuck _I am_." Emily barks back in the midst of her chuckling as they all wait for the workers to make sure everything and everyone is alright and able to finish their race. "You can't touch me. Where the hell did you come from, _huh?_" The brunette animates her talking with a combination of hand movements and gestures as she lock eyes with the driver, showing him that she will never back down from a challenge. "You've been riding in the back this whole time and now you wanna get big balls but, oh yeah, _you_ pinned me against a fucking wall."

"You know what I'm gonna do with your $40? Ask me what I'm gonna do with your $40." Hanna teases the agitated brunette through her wide smile as she's position behind her in almost like a line formation. Seeing that Aria wasn't responding, she decides to continue pushing just to get a reaction that she desperately wants. "_Ask me_ what I'm gonna do with your $40, Aria!"

"_Fuck you_. No chance in hell you're getting my-"

"I'm going to order myself a fat and juicy burger," Hanna blatantly cuts Aria off before she had the chance to respond, elated that she fell for her trap with her smile as wide and conniving as could be, "A _fat_ _burger_ with crispy bacon, sautéed onions and just a drizzle of honey mustard with pepper jack cheese and a large vanilla milkshake with extra large fries on the side. I'm gonna eat the _fuck_ out of it, letting the sauce drip down my fingers because of how _juicy and delicious_ it is. And you're gonna watch me because _Impayingwithyourmoney!_" The blonde sinfully snickers, rubbing her hands together like a mad scientist at her evil plan, "Your $40 that you decided to just give away knowing damn well your sweet, munchkin ass can't drive. Go ahead and start singing the song of your people, Aria. Maybe they'll crawl out the air vents and help you win this race." Hanna furrows her brows and scrunches up her face, twisting her mouth to the side as she rocks herself back and forth like a child, mocking the voice of the popular Wizard of Oz characters, "_We represent the lollipop guild. The lollipop guild. The lollipop guild_."

Surrounding drivers and the two workers begin to crack up in hilarity at Hanna's relentless teasing, causing Aria's blood to boil seeing that she's been the butt of all jokes since they've walked into the establishment, "Shut the hell up, Hanna. Not only are you not getting not a fucking dime from me, you're gonna be feeding _me_ at the end of this race like the peasant you are." Aria stretches out her neck, waving a warning finger as she calls out ahead of her, "Spencer, you better warn her! Better tell _Miss. Illegally Blonde_ here that she's out of her depth."

Spencer turns to look at Hanna for a brief second before her eyes glaze over to Aria, checking her up and down curiously, "Out of her depth? _Aria_...How are you even reaching the pedals?"

"_Oh okay!_" Aria exhales out as the overwhelming sound of Hanna laughing behind her overcrowd her speech, "Fuck you too, Spencer. You both can have each other."

Fully pulling everyone out at a safe distance, giving the bickering group a chance to get ready, Emily revs up her engine as she waits for the OK signal from the employees, giving her the right away passage to continue on and win _her_ race. "And while you're doing all that fucking talking, you better tell your mother, Helen, to have my warm pecan pie with vanilla ice cream ready when I get to her house or else I'm gonna kick her ass." With her last comeback sting in the middle of their arguing, the workers wave down the drivers and Emily floors the gas pedal, speeding off without giving anyone the chance to even try to get an edge over her. With tires squealing and the remaining drivers peeling off, unfortunately, Hanna was a few split seconds behind Aria which left room for the brunette to get in front of her. Creating a silent taunt to the blonde lagging in the back, Aria holds up her middle finger again for a brief moment, long enough for Hanna to see, before she brings her hand back down, tightens her grip on her wheel and maintains her speed.

"My god, this group is _wild!_" The first worker laughs out loud as he watches the racers drive away from where they once were, walking alongside his co-worker, "Can they come back again tomorrow because they're making my life worth living right now."

"Why does everyone fucking hate each other? _Holy shit._" The second employee chimes in a chuckle as he jams his hands into his black shorts, "The brunette is probably gonna choke slam that one guy and I'm pretty sure the small girl is gonna murder the blonde before they even leave the door. This is about to be fucking tragic."

…

On the very last lap of their $20 race, tensions are heightened by 100% as people try to lock in their positions or steal someone else's. With Emily battling her now arch nemesis and Aria and Hanna going at each other's throats, the rankings sit with Emily being number one, followed by Hanna, then Aria and Spencer in last. The sound of screeching from the twists, turns, and braking of the tires become war cries as Aria and Spencer both try to gain on not only on each other but on Hanna, not allowing the blonde to gain the satisfaction of winning. Coming up on another turn, Hanna slows down to meticulously make her quickened change of direction when she startles herself as soon as she becomes sandwiched in between Aria on her right and Spencer on her left. With the limited space, knowing that three karts can't be turning on the narrow turn at the same time without some kind of collision, Hanna instantly hits her brakes, clipping the back of Aria who loses control for a brief moment before she steers herself back in the right direction. With the swift distraction from Aria's side, Spencer avoids the brunette's swerving by pushing the gas, leaving the two in her dust as she tries to follow the distant path of Emily before the race ends.

"Shit." Aria whispers to herself as she watches Spencer zoom past her. The regret washes over very quickly when she realizes that Hanna was now behind her and that if she can uphold her position, she would come out on top. She might not have won the race but she would have beaten Hanna and that's all that matters at this point of time.

With a few more turns and straightaways left, Spencer creeps up behind Emily and her competitor who were driving like there was no one else left on the track except for them two. Having the fastest mental debate in her head, knowing the rules of what is allowed on the track and what isn't, Spencer uses her rapid, drawn up theory and puts it to the test. Getting as close as possible to the male driver as they drive down a straight path, instead of trying to bypass him with speed, Spencer pushes down on her gas and hits the back of his bummer with enough power to make him serve to the side surprised. Taking in her split second opportunity, Spencer rides up on the side of him, overtaking him for the second place spot. He tries to fight back by pushing his kart against the side of Spencer's to make her slam into the barriers, however, coming on a turn pretty quickly as he is attached to the brunette's hip, he slams on his brakes to prevent him from smashing into a barrier himself.

"Move the hell out of my way, _bitch_." Spencer victoriously mumbles to herself, staring at the back of Emily's kart as they both approach the finish line, concluding their race. Entertained by the entire race and its outcome, George and Sean clap in the racers slowly came in as George finalizes the score-board, having _Daddy Diaurentis _bolded brightly at first place and _S. Assassin_ at second. Everyone parks their karts in their respectable spots when Emily hops out of hers, ripping the helmet and the head sock off so she can freely shake out her long and voluminous dark brown hair. She turns and looks at the large, flat TV displaying her name first with a fat grin before she high fives Spencer.

"2nd place, look at you!"

"I didn't call myself an Assassin for nothing." Spencer proudly puffs out her chest with an extra swing in her walk as she and Emily head over to the rack of gear and set their head accessories down. Not wanting to let her small quarrel go so quickly, Emily cheerfully skips over to her competitor, _Rocketboy_, and knocks on his helmet as he begins to take it off.

"Hey. Wha…_what happened back there?_" She pouts with her eyes enlarged for a more dramatic, sympathetic face to really bring her act home. "Mr. _You're gonna know who the fuck I am_. What happened? Y-You lost…" The annoyed young male, brushes Emily off as he walked over to where his gear needed to be placed, not saying anything to feed into the brunette who refuses to leave him alone. "_See…_I don't even know your name but I bet you know mines now."

"And now you know who the fuck _I am._" Spencer adds onto Emily's narrative, adding strength in numbers to mock the guy who narrows his eyes at both girls, "Let that be the _last time_ you talk to a girl the way you talked to her. You're lucky she's not physically beating your scrawny ass right now."

"What did I tell you was going happen?" Aria walks into Hanna's face with the smuggest look on hers as she purposely bumps her, not allowing her to leave her sight, "_What the hell did I tell you_ was going to happen to you, Hanna? I was going to beat your ass and I did." Sean sneakily tip toes towards Aria and Hanna to hear the exchange that he knew was going to be worth watching.

"I basically won the race so it doesn't even matter." Hanna holds her ground as she crosses her arms out in front of her, looking down at the brunette with an unbothered expression.

Aria smug facial expression instantly morphs into a baffled mouth hang and she stares back at the boldness coming out of the blonde in disbelief, "Where _the fuck_ are _you_ getting that _you_ won the race?! Can't you read or are you fucking blind in one eye?"

"Aria, I was leading most of the race. You won at the end whoopty-do. _Clap clap_." Hanna carelessly applauds as she walks away from the tiny brunette, placing her gear at its station for the next group, "I still beat you."

Aria aimlessly blinks at the blonde, standing perfectly still in her place as she tries to find the words to respond to such a comment, "_Hanna_…I want to put my hands around your neck and strangle you but you don't deserve me to give you that blessing of a death."

"I don't deserve you?" Hanna spins around with a laugh to face Aria, "Ar, I will _take _you. Punish you like the bad girl you are." Hanna extends out her arms with a wide-cheesy smile as she slowly approaches the brunette, "Give me a hug."

"Get the hell away from me." Aria smacks Hanna's hand away from her before she ducks under her arms, walking behind Emily and Spencer who are making their way to the double doors leading to the lobby, Spencer on her phone talking to assumingly the cab company.

"Why?!" Hanna whines as she stomps after the grumpy brunette, "I love you!"

…

"Are you finished in there?"

"We're about to come in."

"Yeah…I'm done." Alison responds back with both of her friends leaning against the changing stall door. Given the ok after Alison unlocks, Amy and Miranda slide inside the small cubical and are instantly shell-shocked at what they've walked into.

"Holy shit." Miranda's mouth drops as she checks over the clothing on Alison, seeing how well it complimented her.

"That looks so fucking good on you." Amy whispers in agreement with her eyes not daring to leave Alison's body, "I like this way better than the last one you had. This definitely flatters so many things on you." Alison softly smile as she turns around and looks at herself in the full-body mirror. Amy and Miranda stand behind her as they continue to stare at her, this time through the glass. "I say you should buy it. _Dammit_, I wish I could rock that color like how you're doing right now."

"Wait! I got an idea." Miranda swiftly scoots herself towards the door before Alison decided to change again.

"What is it?" Amy asks curiously.

"I saw something on our way here. Just…_gimme a sec_." And within that same moment, Miranda slips out the dressing room back into the store to scavenge the article of clothing she thought would be cute to wear.

"You honestly look so good in this, Ali." Amy puts her hands on top of Alison's shoulders, examining her more in depth as they both look through the mirror at her set-up, "Like…you could part your hair to side like this and have this full and bouncy, Kim Kardashian kind of hairstyle." Amy glides her fingers through Alison's scalp as she readjusts her hair to the vision she had, using Alison's current look to inspire her onto how to bring her outfit to life, "You know how it's thick and sexy all the time?" Alison silently nods as she allows Amy to use her as a test doll, trying different styles until she was satisfied, "Maybe like this with your long curls coming down and with darker makeup to really make this color and your eyes pop." Amy smiles at Alison through the mirror as she continued to check her out, really appreciate the outfit choice she chose for Alison to try out, "Honestly, you kinda make me want to take you on right here and now." Amy playfully leans into Alison's neck, viciously licking her lips before Alison ducked out of her way and shoved her to the side, laughing at the idiocy from her friend, "I'm juuuuust kiddiiiiing." Amy laughs before her lips softly fell to a genuine smile, "You look amazing, though, Alison. _Seriously_."

Alison bashfully bows her head as she played with the tips of her fingers, letting a smile creep onto her face from the constant praise, "Thank you."

The dressing open cracks open as Miranda creeps back inside with her prized possession, "Okay I got it. Try this on." Taking it off the hanger, Miranda passes Alison a red wine, long, chiffon cardigan that she scoped out earlier.

"_Oh_, nice find." Amy comments as she watches the garment exchange hands, taking in the rich color and the quality of the thread.

"Right?" Miranda responds as she puts her hands on her hips, waiting as they both watch Alison put on the add-on over her chosen outfit. Standing in the mirror in her now completed look, Amy and Miranda share the same look of amazement,

"_Okay_, you went _from coy, classy, and sexy_ and upgraded to _head bitch in charge_ with this. Oh my god." Amy puts her hands over her mouth as she looks at Alison from her head to her toes, back up to her head then back down to her toes. Knowing they're in a public dressing room, Amy does everything in her power to prevent herself from fangirling.

"Fucking _get_ _this_." Miranda whispers as she waves her hand up and down Alison's body in awe, self-patting herself for the marvelous find, "All of it. _Everything_. Get fucking everything."

Alison looks over herself in the mirror, tilting her head to the side as she takes in the outfit she stood in. Swaying the chiffon from side to side, closing it, and then parting it open again to see how it looked overall, Alison pouts to herself with a satisfied head nod. "I like this."

"You'd be crazy if you didn't!" Amy comments back in admiration, still stunned by everything that has fell into place. "You're gonna get it, right?"

"_Yeah_…" Alison turns to the side and lifts up her right foot, checking out her footwear, "I'm going to buy it."

"_Yes!_" Amy hisses out with a victorious fist pumps to herself, feeling more thrilled for Alison than she is for herself.

"Alright, we're gonna get out and let you change back into your clothes." Miranda holds the door handle, getting ready to walk out again, "We have to check out a few other things before we leave." Alison nods her head in agreement, signaling the two friends to slip out of the dressing room to allow her some privacy. She takes a deep breathe and looks back into the mirror, starting to get used to the new look although she didn't feel as special and excited as her friends did for her. Knowing that it's probably just a minor case of nervousness that's preventing her from feeling poised, she tries to shake the thoughts as she began to remove the clothing.

_Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!_

Hearing her phone buzz inside of her purse, Alison leans over to the small bench placed inside the dressing room and checks to see the notification. A smile spreads across her face as she lifts it out of her bag, hitting the accept button before putting her phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Alison_." Emily's voice sings through from the other side, making Alison blush even harder than she was before.

"_Hey, Emily._" She follows the same tone Emily greeted her with as she balances her phone in-between her shoulder and ear while she began removing her clothes.

"What are _yoooou_ doing?"

"I'm doing a little bit of shopping with the girls." Alison replies as she slides out of the chiffon top, looking at herself in the mirror the whole time, "What are you doing? How's your _Girls' day out_ panning for you?"

"It was actually fun." Emily leans against the wall of the establishment as she waits outside for the cab away from her friends, "Did some go-kart racing, fought some random strangers, _you know_…just a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Emily starts giggling to herself through her sing-songy voice.

Alison stops talking off her clothes and pauses for a moment, squinting her eyes at Emily's apparent cheerfulness, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Emily sighs out, leaning her head against the wall as she rubbed her face in weariness, "We didn't actually fight but just argued for a bit."

"No, I mean are _you _okay? You seem…_different_."

"Yeah-no I'm fine. I-I'm cool." The words tumble out of Emily's mouth faster than expected as she tried to disguise the tipsiness she had, "No problem here."

Still feeling skeptic, Alison takes a seat on the bench as she began to unhook her heels, taking in Emily's seemingly _too happy_ behavior, "Have you been drinking, Emily?"

"_Ehhh_. No." Emily pushes herself off the wall and takes a few steps out in front of her, twisting from side to side restlessly, "I mean not really, just a little bit, yeah but it's no big deal because everything is under control."

"And you're driving with alcohol in your system?" Alison whispers into the phone away from lurking ears as she stops untying her heels, placing her feet flat on the ground with her anxious level now rising, "_Emily_, you could get-"

"_Nooooo_, _I'm_ not driving." Emily clarifies to ease the heightened blonde, placing a hand on her chest, feeling her slightly accelerated heartbeat thumping against her chest, "None of us are. We're just taking a cab back to my place."

"Oh okay. That's a better system." Alison's body relaxes back into her calm state although she's still a bit on edge knowing that Emily is out and about not 100% herself. "And you're going straight back to your apartment?"

"_Yes_." Emily hisses out with a large grin as she watches cars pass by in the distance, basking in the evening day that is slowly beginning to fade within a couple of hours, "See, I told you everything was under control." The brunette sucks in her bottom lip as she turns back around towards the building, walking in a small half circle before she decides to lean alongside the outside wall on her shoulder, "I miss you…" Emily voice drops from her once giddy demeanor to a serious murmur, "When can I see you?"

Alison softly smirks to herself as she puts her heels to the side and continues disrobing. She can almost _hear _the pouting of Emily's lips and the large, puppy-like eyes through her voice, knowing that's probably what she's doing, "When everyone leaves just as you said this morning, remember?"

"Yeah but I want to see you _now._" Emily groans in pure dissatisfaction, mimicking an impatient child as she tosses over and leans on her back against the wall,"I…I can't wait until tomorrow. I _need_ to see your precious, angelic face."

"_Yeeeah_," Alison shakes her head in a smile as she began taking off her bottoms, "You have been drinking."

"A drunk mind speaks sober thoughts." Emily grins into her phone as she put the tip of her finger in between her teeth cheekily, "Ever thought of that, _huh?_" Hearing Alison giggling on the other line sends a pleasant, warm shiver through Emily's body, making her heart feel like she was meeting Alison all over again for the first time.

….

"_C'mere._ Gimme a kiss."

"Get the hell off me."

"What? Oh-now I can't touch you? You're _that_ mad at me that you're restricting me?"

"I'm serious. _Get off_."

"C'mon…You weren't saying all that last night."

"_Last night?_" Emily's eyebrows shoot up along with the corners of her mouth into an amused smile before she took a small sip of water, "Something happened that you guys aren't telling us?"

"Tell them about our _night of_ _passion_ last night." Hanna nuzzles up besides Aria with her head resting on Aria's shoulder as Spencer and Emily sit on either side of them on Emily's couch, all four of them holding a different kind of beverage in their hands, "Go ahead. Tell them _all_ about it."

Aria shimmies Hanna off her shoulder before she raised a bottle to her lips, "I didn't do anything with her. She's lying."

"You guys were alone last night so..." Spencer flicks an eyebrow curiously with her smug facial expression to match as she sat comfortably Indian style, "Who know who's telling the truth."

"And today when you said that I was going to be choking on your dick...got me all worked up and pretty excited, to be honest." Hanna whispers indiscreetly into Aria's ear as she tenderly stroked her leg, causing everyone, including the brunette herself, to laugh at Hanna's silliness.

"You _dumbass_. Get off me." Aria giggles as she pushes the blonde onto Emily once more. Ever since the girls took a cab back to Emily's place, they've been lounging around in Emily's living room as Hanna continued to cozy up with Aria although they've been bickering previously. Upon arriving, Hanna makes her parched throat known to the group, giving her an excuse to get herself another drink as they waited to sober up to get the rental back before it gets towed. Although, sounding stupid to sip on alcohol to wait on depleting the first batch of alcohol in their system, Hanna pitched a good argument as to why it wasn't a bad idea.

"**We're just babying it. We're not going to stay drunk forever. This drink is going to flush out with the other drinks at the same time so there is nothing to worry about."**

And with her winning statement, the girls didn't fight back against it. Although Emily decided to wait it out with a bottle of ice cold water instead.

"No!" Hanna lunges onto Aria, almost making her spill her drink as Hanna hugs her tightly with no plans of letting her go, "You're not going anywhere."

"How does it feel to watch your wife blatantly cheat right in front of you, Em?" Spencer nods her head in the direction of the two girls as she leans forward to see Emily on the other side of the couch, "I mean, _look at her_, she's pretty shameless about it."

"Don't worry, she taught me how to be like this." Hanna pushes a loose strand of hair behind Aria's ear as she stroked the side of the brunette's leg ever so seductively as if Aria was her little toy, "How to bring good girls home for her at night."

"_Hanna_," Emily chuckles as she grabbed Hanna's arm and pulled, trying to pull the drunken predator off its prey, "You're fucking gone. Leave poor Aria alone."

"_No_." Hanna yanks out of Emily's grasp and wrapped her arms around Aria even tighter, restricting any kind of movement from the smaller brunette who leans her head back against the couch in a surrendering sigh, "Since you want to _gallivant_ around with another blonde, disrupting _our_ relationship, I need someone to hold since you can't step up and do your job." Hanna snarls over her shoulder as she peers at Emily from the corner of her eyes.

Emily gasps at Hanna's words and Spencer haughtily grins, taking in all the drama of the day that she was not a part of, "I bust my ass at work, put food on the table and a roof over our heads. I think that's _stepping up and doing my job._"

"Well you get an A in providing but a fat _F_ in satisfying. _That's_ why I replaced you for Aria." Hanna snuggles closer to the brunette as Aria yawns, passing her drink over for Spencer to hold as she got herself comfortable. "At least she loves me."

Emily shakes her head at Hanna's ranting, pouring back another gulp of water before she closed the bottle and placed it on her coffee table in front of them, raising to her feet off the couch, "C'mon, babe, I'm sorry. Leave Aria to Spencer and come snuggle with me."

"But she's so _soft_ and _tiny_ and _soft_" Hanna whines as she rests her head against Aria's neck, not wanting to move from their comfortable position.

"But look at her," Emily points at Aria who looks like she's a few moments away from falling asleep as she tries with all her might to stay up, not being the first person from the group to knock out, "She's tired. We're all tired. Come on, let's go lay down." Emily outstretches her hand for Hanna to grab as she gives her best warm and convincing smile, "Upstairs has a big space with your name on it." Hanna stares at Emily's hand for a moment before she looked back at Aria in her peaceful state of resting. Biting the inside of her lip, Hanna takes Emily up on her offer and lets go of Aria who then leans onto Spencer's lap, worn-out.

"Sorry, Ar." Hanna hops to her feet taking Emily's hand as she puts her drink next to hers on the coffee table, "Duty calls."

"You won't be missed." Aria grumbles back as she nestles herself on top of Spencer's thigh, slowly letting herself go for a quick nap.

Jogging up Emily's stairs, seeing that not all four girls could lay out on Emily's couch comfortably, Hanna friskily pulls Emily into her bed with a laugh as they both bounce on top of the mattress. "It's about time you fought for me to come back."

Emily smiles as Hanna guided the brunette's arms to wrap around her in a cuddling position, "_You're_ the one that left me for Caleb. _You_ broke up our marriage, not me." Hanna gasps out a laugh as Emily lets her hands wander to begin her rapid fire tickling assault. "_You're_ the one who should be fighting for _me_." Hanna tries to push out of Emily's grasp but gets yanked back. Emily's fingers roam around the blonde's side as Hanna wheezes out for air, begging for her to stop through her chopped laughter. The laughing brunette breaks her tickle spree and squeezes her best friend tightly from behind while Hanna regains her breathing and strength that was taken away from her. The blonde huffs out, holding onto Emily's arm around her waist.

"I've fucking missed you, Em."

"I've fucking missed you too, Hanna." Emily sweetly responds back with her forehead pressed against Hanna's shoulder blade.

…

_Whack!_

Out of reflexes, Emily smacks herself in the face in the midst of her sleeping, "_Fuck_…" She groans as she rubs her nose, hitting herself harder than one would think. Tossing herself onto her back with Hanna laying soundlessly asleep next to her, Emily sluggishly tries opens her eyes as the darkness of her room causes her sight a slight delay in adjustment. She blinks a few times when the realization that her room wasn't dark because the lights were off hit her like a semi-truck. "_Fuck!_" Shoving her hands into her back pocket, Emily pulls out her phone and presses the power button, instantly shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness of the screen. "_Shit!_" She hisses out shock, instantly put on full alertness, Emily snaps her neck in Hanna's direction and gently shakes her out of her sleep.

"_Whaaat?_" Hanna mutters from the sudden movement with the side of her face still pressed against the pillow, not opening her eyes to prevent herself from fully waking up.

"We forgot to go back for the car!" Emily urgently whispers into the blonde's ear, "We have head out to get it before it gets towed!" She tries to move Hanna but she doesn't budge although they were in a hot situation that needed to be taken care of immediately.

"I can't drive right now, Emily." Hanna groans as she nuzzles her face more into the pillow, ignoring Emily's plight, "Get Spencer or Aria to go with."

"Hanna, this is your fucking car we're talking about!"

"Emily, I'm too tired! I'll fucking crash the car falling asleep at the wheel." The blonde annoyingly raises her voice as she readjusts her head again, smacking Emily off of her, "Get Spencer and Aria."

Scoffing at Hanna's lack of importance for something she's responsible for, Emily rolls out of her side of the bed with her phone in hand and quietly jogs downstairs to see Spencer and Aria passed out on her couch. Internally stressing over waking them up and risk them driving not only exhausted but with a possibility of alcohol still in their system -if they had continued drinking- or letting them sleep, Emily runs her hair though hair as she racks her brain for a solution. Knowing that the Raceway is out of the city and takes over a half an hour to get there, she mentally stops her debate and ends up opening her phone to the dialing screen to call someone.

"_Hey_. Uhm…are you busy?"

…

"I can't thank you enough for coming out here with me. You're a freaking life-saver."

"You weren't joking when you said it was outside the city."

Emily turns on her right blinker, looking through her rear-view and side mirror, using the opportunity to sneak a peek at Alison, she moves herself to the open right lane. "Yeah, but it was worth the drive, honestly."

"How do you know the car was going to be towed if you didn't pick it up?" Alison asks as she glances at Emily casually sitting in the driver's seat with her hand rested at the top of the wheel, "People park and leave their cars in parking lots all the time."

"Because there is a sign that says "_Customer Parking Only_". Earlier in the day we were customers but with the place about to close, there shouldn't be anyone on the lot."

"Well luckily you woke up, huh?"

"Yeah, thanks to the broken nose I gave myself when I smacked myself out of my sleep." Emily lets out a chuckle as she turned on her right signal once again, getting ready to turn into Speed Raceway after their long drive out. Alison softly smiles before she turns her head and looks out of her window and gazes at the dim parking lot with a handful of car still parked.

"Which one is the rental?"

"The platinum Armada." Emily points to the truck as she slowly drove towards it, parking in the parking space behind it. "They so owe me for this." Emily mutters to herself as she puts her car in park and takes off her seat belt.

"So this is it." Alison nods her head to herself, taking in her surrounding with her lips pushed out as she unclicked her seat belt, "This is where you and your friends decided to drink and walk into that place intoxicated. Intoxicated with children around."

A smile creeps onto Emily's face as she lifts her hands up, forfeiting the allegations, "There were no kids around when we were in there so _technically_ it's okay."

"_Technically?_" Alison laughs as she looks back at Emily, looking at her smug smile, not even denying anything wrong with that scenario. "It's technically okay for public intoxication?"

"Public intoxication only counts when you're _intoxicated._ We weren't. We were just loving life with a _smaaaaaall_ buzz." Emily squints her eyes as she raises her hand to her face, making a gesture of how small with her index finger and thumb, "That's it."

Alison leans back into her seat with her arms crossed, amused at Emily's attempt to water-down the truth, "That small, huh?"

"_Tiny, tiny_ buzz. Barely a buzz at all."

"Didn't sound like a buzz when you called me from here."

"Well, maybe because I faked it." Emily sighs as she glances out her window briefly before she looks back at Alison, "I faked this _whole _situation _just _so I could come out and see you. Nobody drank any alcohol and there was no rush to get this car. Yes, they are sleeping back at my place. And _yes_, the car is still here but it was all a part of my plan."

"Your plan." Alison repeats with her eyes crinkled and a raised eyebrow as she locked eyes with the brunette, knowing that she's lying about lying. "This was your entire plan. All of this."

"_Mhmmm_…" Emily bites her lip, not even trying to hide her next motives as she gradually leaned in towards Alison, "Because I've been wanting to see you and do this…" Emily extends her hand out hold Alison's face and gently pulled her in for a kiss. Keeping it slow and consistent for a few seconds, Emily gets ahead of herself a bit by slipping her tongue into Alison's mouth with the anticipated and strong desire of really wanting to kiss her the moment she picked her up. The desire of tasting her immediately caused the brunette to kick their kiss up from gentle to a bit faster yet building in passion and crave to get all of her. Remarkably to Emily's surprise, Alison was right on beat as her tongue stroked Emily's which sent Emily's body from 40-400 within milliseconds. She knew that if they kept going the way they're going, they're going to be staying outside of Philly for a little more than planned. However, just as Emily was really about to get hot and heavy, Alison stops her by pulling away. Emily tried to hide her anxiousness as to why they stopped but all she could do is watch Alison coly bow her head, making Emily's eyes follow her with a soft smile because she knew they were similarly thinking the same thing.

"Let's uhm…. Let's go ahead and start heading back," Alison lifts her head to meet Emily's gentle yet playful gaze, "Since we know it's going to be a drive and a half."

"You're right." Emily nods her head as she took the rental keys out of her pocket. Handing it to Alison and timing it wrong, the keys slip through both Emily and Alison's fingers and falls to the side of the storage compartment placed in the middle of them, crammed on the side of Emily's seat. Dropping her hand to try to reach the keys, from where she sat and the size of the space, Emily couldn't quite get her hand to grab it, "_Dammit_. I can't…I can't reach it."

Alison leans over to lend a pair of eyes in means of seeing where the keys fell just as Emily lifted her arm out of the tiny space. "I can't see it…. Maybe I can grab it from the back." Without any other second being wasted, Alison opens her side door which makes Emily get out of the car as well. The blonde unlocks the back seat door on her side and jumps in, laying her body down on the plush, black leather of the rear seating to see from what direction she could reach the keys in. Extending her hands out towards the back of Emily's seat, with a few attempted swipes, Alison successfully grabs the keys. "Alright, I got-" Alison cuts her words short as she instantly crawls further into the car in surprise to Emily sneaking into the car behind her, closing the door to seal them both in the back seat.

"_Hello_." Emily smiles innocently with a smile that was anything but innocent.

"Wha…?" Alison furs her eyebrows at the brunette, confused as to why she hopped in the back seeing that she got the keys. In that same breathing moment, Alison's face relaxes and she cocks her head to the side in a knowingly sigh, "_Wooow_."

"Yet another one of my plans. _Man_, you just keep falling for them, do you?" Emily giggles as she takes the keys out of Alison's hands and shoves them back into her pocket. With Emily's eyes narrowed like a hunter who is locked on its victim, every inching Emily did towards the blonde, Alison apprehensively backed herself up until her back was pressed against the side car door, "Are you in a rush to go somewhere…?" Emily harmlessly asked through her tone that she lowered into a honeyed voice.

"Are you not?" Alison responds back as Emily crept towards her until there was limited space between the two. Emily pauses and tilts her head to the side, looking out the front window at the rental car in front of them before she turned back around to see the girl she's been anticipating on seeing all night wearing a simple look of a loose fitting, cropped, grey shirt with dark jeans.

"_No_."

…

Taking some time to adjust, Hanna's eyes slowly open into the darkness of Emily's room after awakening from her nap. She groggily raises herself off her pillow and sits up straight, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "Emily?" she softly calls out. Waiting on a response that never came, Hanna lifts herself off the bed and starts tottering towards the stairs. "Em? Emily are you still here?" Getting down to the bottom of the stairs, Hanna notices that Spencer and Aria were sleeping on the couch the same way Emily and her left them earlier before they went upstairs and fell asleep. Side-eyeing this little information, Hanna walks over to Emily's kitchen counter where she left her purse and everything inside it. She pulls out her phone from its inner pocket and decides to call her friend, wondering how the hell she's planning on getting the rental when everyone is still at her place and why the hell did she leave alone.

Dialing:_ Emily Marin_

_Ring….._

_Ring….._

_Ring….._

_Ring….._

_Ring…_

"Hi! You have reached my phone, however, I am unavailable to answer your call." Hanna rolls her eyes as strides over to the fridge, mouthing the rest of Emily's voicemail that she knows by heart.

_Beep!_

"Em, where the hell are you?" Hanna groans through her sleepily voice, making sure not to wake up the other two still in dreamland, "Why didn't you wake up Aria or Spencer to go with you?" Hanna shakes her head as she looks through Emily fridge for something to put in her mouth, "I'm going to call you again. _Answer your phone_." Hanging up the call as she reaches for a strawberry banana Yoplait yogurt cup, Hanna presses redial and waits for Emily to pick up her call.

_Ring…_

_Ring…_

…

Drawing her in tighter, Emily's tongue searched out Alison's as her hands caressed over the blonde's sides. Alison could feel Emily's obvious hunger for her beginning to have an effect as their kissing has gotten more and more passionate. Their tongues swirl around each other's with such sighing and moaning ever so softly that only they could hear each other.

_Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!_

For the second time Emily's phone has went off, Emily elevates herself and leans over to the front of her vehicle and grabs her phone.

_Hanna Fields _

_mobile_

_[Decline] - [Answer]_

Seeing the caller ID, Emily lets the phone ring before she lowers the volume setting from vibrate to silent. Putting her phone back inside the cup holder, Emily returns to Alison who laid underneath her.

Alison looks at Emily's phone, pointing towards the front of the car, "Aren't you going to answer that?"

"No, it's fine." Emily lowers herself to kiss Alison's cheek, trailing herself down to her jaw, "I'll call back later.

"Maybe it's something important-"

"I said it was fine, _didn't I?_" Emily looks at Alison with a charming and light smile. She brushes a strand of Alison's hair out of her face and leans down to give her another slow and tender start off as a kiss. Matching and complimenting each other's passion very well, Alison's arms rest on Emily's shoulders as her fingers stroked the back of Emily's neck as her tongue catches the top of Emily's lip, latching onto it, and slowly letting it go. The sensation of her little move caused Emily to make yet another strike against herself, with every kiss, lick, and touch Alison gave her, she felt herself melting into the blonde's hands with the seconds passing by. Emily slows down their sensual kiss to small, cute pecks before she stops completely and looks up at her. "I can't wait until you spend the day with me tomorrow." Emily gushes as her right hand tenderly strokes Alison's side. She ends up softly laughing to herself, "Is that weird? I saw you last night, this morning, and now tonight but I felt like I haven't seen you all day. It's like I have this….this _need _to be around you all the time."

Alison tries to hide her blush through her laughter as Emily looks down at her with admiration for a smile. She raises her hand to her face with her finger covering parts of her mouth as she gazes back up at Emily, "No, it's not weird."

"_You don't think so?_" Emily tilts her head to the side with the pitch in her voice rising in tickled questioning.

"No, not at all. I kinda have that effect on people." Alison smirks at Emily with a conceited, conning expression that, unbeknownst to her, is adding another strike against Emily's self-control.

The brunette clicks her tongue, wagging at finger at Alison, "I knew it." She chuckled, "You put some kind of potion in my drink when I wasn't looking, putting me in this hazy cloud of a spell that makes me fixated on you." Emily bites her bottom lip as she stared at Alison, not knowing exactly what she was thinking but knew exactly what she was thinking herself, "But fuck it," the volume of her voice lowers to a whisper, "_I don't care_." Emily leans down and kisses Alison's lips with a few pecks before she streamed herself down to her neck which Alison stretches out for her to have more room to do what she wanted.

"What's the game plan you have when we leave here?" Alison asks, trying not to cave in so much to Emily's warm breath tickling her skin as she took her time kissing her neck but also trying to understand what they're doing next with the car since they didn't really talk about it.

"We're gonna drive back to the city, park the car by the apartment," Emily buzzes her words into Alison, not letting her responses stop her from tasting Alison's sweet skin, "hopefully with a space open, then I'll drop you off at your apartment-"

"I'm actually going over Miranda's." Alison politely corrects Emily as she stares up at Emily's car ceiling, "I was heading over with Amy before you called. We were going together."

"Alright. I'll drop you off at Miranda's and then I'll pick you up afterwards." Emily changed her plans as she went higher up Alison's neck towards the bottom of her ear.

"That wouldn't be necessary. You don't have to do that." Alison reply to Emily's gesture causes Emily to stop her pursuit and lean back up to look at Alison quizzically.

"Then how are you supposed to get back? Walking?" Emily shakes her head, "Like I said, I'll pick you up." Emily goes to dive back into Alison while Alison holds her ground.

"No, you won't. Amy will drive me back."

"Why won't you let me drive you back?"

"Because you have guests to tend to."

Emily waves her hand in the air dismissively as she rolls her eyes, "They'll probably be asleep all night, its fine."

Alison chuckles in amusement at Emily's push for something she really didn't have any say over, "Take the loss, Emily. You're not driving me back."

"Alright, I won't." Emily lets out an unsatisfied sigh as she scrunches up her face in disapproval, "But here's something you have to choose," Emily pulls out the car keys out her of pocket and dangles it over Alison, "which car do you want to drive back? My car or the rental?"

"I'll drive the rental." Alison answer back as she goes to reach for the keys. Immediately, Emily pulls her hand back, not allowing Alison to grab them.

"_You sure?_"

"_Mhmmm_."

"You're positive?" Emily tilts her head to the side, doubting her with a sly smirk.

"Yes." Alison smiles back as she extends her arms out higher to seize the keys. Just as the keys were in her grasp, Emily tightens her grip and she leans down to kisses Alison once again, leaving both their hands in the air as she sweeps the bottom lip of Alison's with her tongue. With the electricity flowing through Alison's body as she felt Emily pressing into her more and more, Emily releases the keys into Alison possession while her hands float back down onto the side of Alison's face, cupping her affectionately as Alison lightly whimpers into Emily's mouth. Just another strike against Emily who's losing the battle within herself.

….

Hanging up the phone after calling Emily back to back eight times, Hanna goes to her fridge, takes out another strawberry-banana yogurt and silently tip toes her way back to Emily's room, trying not to disturb Aria and Spencer sleeping peacefully together.

"Why aren't you answering my fucking calls, Emily?" Hanna whispers to herself as she approached and jumped into her friend's bed. Opening the sealing of her 2nd yogurt, Hanna pops up Emily's text conversation and decides to text her instead since she's not getting through via phone call.

_Today 10:47pm_

_Hanna: _Emily where are you? I've been calling and calling and fucking calling and you've just decided not to answer. Did you get the car? Who did you take because I see tweedledee and tweedledum still sleeping here. Don't text me CALL me back because I know you have your phone on you.

Tossing her phone to the side, Hanna sits in complete silence in the middle of Emily's room. Not doing anything but slurping on her snack, Hanna becomes increasingly bored now that she's the only person in the apartment that's awake with her friend that went AWOL. Just then an idea snakes into her head, causing Hanna to lean over to the night stand next to her side of the bed and switch the night light on, shinning Emily's room in a different light so she can see everything.

"_What do you got in this room, Emily…?_" She asks herself with a smile as she becomes incredibly noisy.

…

Stopping once again throughout their constant stop and go make out session, Emily gazes, instead of her eyes, at Alison's lips with a hint of curiosity. Alison's eyes searches Emily's face as she tries to understand-try to guess what Emily's thinking. "Your lips…" Emily dangerously whispers as she takes in their shape, color, and size, almost like a toddler who's fascinated with the object in front of them, "They're soft…._I like kissing them_." The brunette murmurs almost secret-like. Just hearing the words and the way they floated out of Emily's mouth did something internally to Alison, striking a match that would soon be used to set something aflame. "Baby?"

"Hm?" Alison's eyes flick up towards Emily's who have moved from Alison's lips to her eyes. Not responding back to her initial call, Emily stares into Alison's eyes, almost feeling the same feeling she had the night prior when they both were leaning on each other in Emily's kitchen. Just thinking about that moment makes Emily softly smile to herself before it fades away as she drags her finger to trace the lower half of Alison's face. Taking in the beauty of the blonde underneath her, Emily noticed the small things that she hasn't really pinpointed before. Like how Alison's hair flows when she lays on her back or how when she smiles –when she really smiles- her eyes wrinkle at the corners as if her eyes had laugh lines. With just the sound of their breathing and the soft rumble of the car engine still going, something dawned on Emily. It dawned on her that she has been out of a relationship ever since senior year of high school. Being now a junior in college, after Paige, Emily has stepped away from the dating limelight and just focused on her studies and swimming with no ambition to meet anyone else. The "_McCullers Hangover_", as she used to call it, had her down for so long that it hit her in the car with Alison that she hasn't cared about anyone to this extent ever since Rosewood. And with the eyes that she so hopelessly gets herself lost in every time, she has realized that Alison eyes had almost a unique combination: Sexy but innocent at the same time. They involuntarily seduce you, but at the same time, there is a clean, pure look in them. Almost like forbidden fruit. Getting lost in her thoughts, as she continues to softly touch Alison's face with the tips of her fingers, Emily dropped her hands to her side, on the way brushing Alison's chest by accident. However, the accident proved to be beneficial because at that exact moment, Emily had realized three things; Alison's shirt fabric was very smooth, she wasn't hearing a bra, and that she was in-fact turned on. Without showing too much knowledge on her face, Emily takes a deep breath as she chanted in her head _self-control_ about 25 times in 10 seconds.

"Are you sure you want the rental?" Emily sputters out from her exhale, trying to calm herself, "You can take my car if you want." _Self-controlself-controlself-controlself-controlself-control._

"No need to." Alison shakes her head as she gave the brunette a self-assured smile, "I can work a truck, Emily." The way Alison responded to Emily made her gulp down as she felt herself become even more turned on than she already was. For some reason, the simple words of "I can work a truck, Emily." coming from Alison's mouth just fried her brain. _Self-conwhat? What is self-control? I don't even know what that is? Huh? What? I have no willpower. I am a weak woman. A weak and fragile woman._

"I'll follow you then." Emily feebly smiles as she gets up off the blonde rather quickly to let Alison out. Without saying anything, Emily watches Alison open the rear door and hop out of the car as she follows out behind her. The lights of the rental car blinks into the darkness of the parking lot as Alison unlocks the car door as gets inside the driver's seat. Following after, Emily jumps into the front of car, puts on her seat belt, and waits for Alison cue as she tries to de-fog herself before she starts the trip back home.

Starting the Armada for the first time, adjusting the seating to her personal liking, Alison glides her hands around the greyish-cream colored steering wheel, feeling the tightness of the leather under her palms. Her eyes flickers up the rear-view mirror, taking a peek at Emily behind her, sitting the driver's seat looking abroad in thought. Knowing that the longer they wait, the later their going to be out, Alison puts her car in drive and begins to slowly steer out of the parking lot with Emily turning on her lights and following behind her. The thoughts that she had did not rest easy as she stopped at a stop sign, getting ready to merge into the city streets. Certain things had hit her during her moment with Emily, things that really made her mind wander. One of them being that Emily had this need to be with her all the time as she put it. Although Alison played it off as if she was just _that girl_, inside she was shocked upon hearing those words. She has never heard someone tell her that romantically. Not even personally when she thought about it. Knowing that someone in this world actually couldn't be away from her was such a foreign concept. The old Alison thrived on the fact that she was the center of everything but those emotions from people were never genuine emotions. Never from someone who deeply cared for her.

**Emily holds onto Alison as the pink lights fade into a deep blue that reflects off of Alison's face ever so heavenly just as how she looked on the rooftops with the city lights, "Alison, I care about you **_**so**_** deeply that I would do anything for you. I would fight for you. I would help you in whatever you need. I…I just want to be there for you." Emily shakes her head as her eyes drift off to the side in dreariness. "When you had that nightmare that night…from that point on, all I could think about is what would have happened if I wasn't there. If you had nobody to hold onto to tell you everything was ok. The thought of you going through that terror by yourself...You scared stiff-less in your apartment….I don't want that for you. I **_**want**_** to be there for you like I am for you now. All I need for you to do is let me."**

Someone who treated her as if she was the only girl in the room.

**"I wish you could see how beautiful you look right now…" Emily softly whispers as she places her hand on the blonde's face, placing her thumb on her lower lip to feel if it quivers the same way hers does.**

No one has ever promised her anything in means of comfort.

**"I don't want to go back." Alison hastily shakes her head. "I-I-I don't want to see it again."**

"**You won't." Emily assures her as she reaches for Alison's hand. "I'm going to be right here with you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."**

x

"_**Do you trust me**_**?"**

**Not uttering a word, Emily extends her hand once again, waiting for Alison to hold onto. Alison looks down at Emily's hand for a moment before she slowly grasps it, looking back up to Emily's eyes. **

"**I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."**

x

"**Then you're stuck with me and all my glory." The brunette lets out a big cheesy grin, "Because I'm staying right here. I'm not going to leave you. Not for **_**anything **__**or anyone**_**. I promise."**

Nobody has ever made her feel the way Emily has.

"**Is that weird? I saw you last night, this morning, and now tonight but I felt like I haven't seen you all day. It's like I have this….this **_**need **_**to be around you all the time."**

**Alison tries to hide her blush through her laughter as Emily looks down at her with admiration for a smile. She raises her hand to her face with her finger covering parts of her mouth as she gazes back up at Emily, "No, it's not weird."**

"_**You don't think so?**_**" Emily tilts her head to the side with the pitch in her voice rising in tickled questioning.**

x

"**Nobody, **_**and I mean nobody**_**, would ever want to be around you, Alison, don't you get that?!" Jason slams his hands onto the dinner table, causing Alison to jump out of her skin and Kenneth to open his mouth in anger and surprise, speechless of what their first time together in a long time has become.**

"_**JASON**_**!"**

"**All you do is bring pain to people!" Being on the opposite side of Alison, Jason leans into the table to an Alison who regrettably has her eyes locked with her brother's although the mere action burned her alive in fear. "That's all you're fucking good for! Bringing pain and **_**ruining**_** shit!" Jason tosses his dinner plate out of anger across the table, causing his plate to smash and food to splatter all over the dining area as he ejected out of his chair, shoving it to the side to hard that it falls to the floor. Kenneth immediately gets up to go after his son but decides not to, seeing that he was living the house. Their father's eyes scans over at the mess Jason has caused, breaking a few glasses and spilling food everywhere with his tantrum. Passing the food, he sees Alison with her head bowed down, visibly shaking in horror as to what had just happened. Before he had the opportunity to console his daughter, Alison abruptly pushes back from the table, rising to her left in means of leaving.**

**"****Where are you going, Alison?"**

**"****I'm…I…" Alison stammers as she gets up from the kitchen table, fumbling with trying to push her chair in, "I-uh-I have to work for Black Friday so…I'm-I'm just going to go home and catch some sleep before I have to…" Alison's unsteady hands rub the side of her face, "before I have to work."**

After everything, knowing how much Emily cared for her ultimately scared her.

_**Whew. Finally got through with that chapter, huh!**_

**A lot of things were going on, did you catch them all?**

**I birthed this fat chapter for you guys, all I ask is for a fat review in return :D But seriously, review what you liked. Let me know because I like knowing! Even if you're a silent reader and **_**never **_**reviewed this story, do something new before 2015 ends and review it :)**

**Christmas is coming up, guys! You might want to maybe, maaaaaaybe keep an eye out around that time. You might get a surprise from me ;)**

**Now okay, getting away from the fic real quick, I have to tell you guys something…..I think I'm about to have a Stephanie Myers moment. This is what happens when you write so much that it starts getting into your dreams. Lmao bear with me, please. **_**So! **_**I normally sleep really late (because my sleep schedule is gone especially now that it's break) and I had an interesting dream. It was just a normal, confusing dream with my family and whatever, but then it turned left **_**soooo**_** quick. I'm not going to bore you guys with the details of the dream but the basis of it was that I was an acquaintance of Alison but I didn't really like her. She was basically pre-A Ali in my dream in means of her attitude and everything else. Ok. Fast forward a crime was committed and she started to go on the run. (Sounds familiar?) Then one night she came to me begging for help and I was like, "No. I'm not trying to get involved. No way. You're a fugitive. I will get time too. Sorry. Hit the road, Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more!" (You guys get the picture) But then, all of a sudden, not only were the cops after her but this mafia-type gang was after her as well and their sole intent was to find her and kill her. Now, knowing this information and whatnot, I became freaking stressed. **_**And I mean stressed.**_** So while they were looking for her, I allowed her to stay in my house in the basement. Then with time passing, the feds were staying around my neighborhood because they knew she was somewhere close. And where the cops were, the gang followed and they caught a feeling that I was hiding her. Here comes the stress level heightened in my dream, man. I had to go on the freaking run with Alison. Ditch everything and become a fugitive as well. I had to pull all the money I had in the bank, talk to some close friends about underground living (Weapons, cars, disguises, places to live…etc), leave my family and friends, and ride into the night with her. Which in turned, became A NIGHTMARE. Guys, I thought the dream was real and I had to freaking throw my life away for this girl and I was so stressed that I was throwing up in my dream which made me feel nauseous in real life.**

**Then I woke up. When I tell you I yanked my phone from my wall, ripping out the charger and everything to write down the dream ASAP before I forgot, **_**I did that.**_

_TL;DR The dream was like PLL but on serious steroids with some MASSIVE shit doing down. Like PLL mixed with the Bourne Movies with a sprinkle of Salt with Angelina Jolie. You can just imagine the thriller/action of that. _**I've been thinking of different ideas of a complete AU to start working on (actually one of my ideas were similar to this dream in the means of thriller and action) but this would sound interesting written down, huh? ****What do you guys think? Would you read something like that? Yeah? No?**

**Review and fa-la-la-la-la! **


	26. Chapter 26: Alison Wonderland

**Hello, my Emisonians, people of the Emison-trash kingdom! It's nice to see your eyes again :) **

**Ok, time to do a little house-cleaning! First off! If you guys read my other Emison fic, "Acquired Madness", you would already know the reason for my abrupt hiatus. For those of you whole don't know, the reason why it has taken me quite a while to update not only this story but any of my stories is because my father has been deployed and it really sucked out any ambition I had to write. However, I love to write and I would hate to leave you guys hanging like a failed high five so I'm back :)**

**Onto some other news…Now I'm going to need you guys to be seating for this one…**

**Book 1 of Trouvaille is soon to come to an end.**

**BUT! The story will not end, no bob it won't. Think of this as in the Season 1 finale of Trouvaille is coming up. There will be a Season 2!**

**I'm very particular about organization and I didn't want this fic to be like 300k words with 50 chapters. I want to break it up and spread out a bit like a series. So yes! I want to tell you guys this now and randomly at the end of a chapter like, **_**"Hey guys! So yeah….this fic is now completed and I'm ending this book with this chapter lol!"**_

**So, like you guys, I tend to reread this story as well. Skipping around, just randomly reading chapters as if I'm not the author of this story. One thing I've noticed? My writing was pretty cringe-worthy in the beginning haha. Well to me anyways. There I was, just thrusting myself in the world of literature that I haven't been apart of since my early teens. But 26 chapters later, I have noticed evolution! I describe in more detail, I try to really drive emotions and reality home for you guys to relate to, aaaand**

**I WRITE LONGER. GOOD LORD DO I WRITE MORE.**

**I remember the good ol' days where my chapters were like 2,500 words and I would be like, **_**"Whew! I am beat! That was a lot!"**_** Now 2,500 words is just the opening scene of my chapters nowadays. I'm pushing out at least 6k words a chapter. This chapter is 10k words by itself! I don't think you guys mind, right? ;)**

CHAPTER #26: Alison Wonderland

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed

Emily unlocks her front door with the brightness of the floor hallway behind her seeping into her apartment, shinning onto Spencer and Aria who continued to lay deep within their sleep on the couch. Quietly closing the door, Emily slips out of her shoes and pushes them against the wall with a shove of her feet before she walks across the floor of her living room. Seeing two out of three wasn't bad, however, she walked the path to her bedroom to see if Hanna was still awake. The brunette quietly jogs up her stairs to find the blonde laying on her bed ever so comfortably on her phone. Barely acknowledging her presence with just a glance from the corner of her eye, Hanna doesn't show any form of greeting as Emily jumps into bed with a soft groan.

"_Where were you?_" Hanna's words come out low and stern like a pissed off girlfriend who tried to keep her composure before she blew the top of her lid.

"Where was I?" Emily looks at Hanna with a short-side glance, her eyebrows pinched at the questioning of her location, "I went to get your car that we all _seemingly_ forgot about."

"Took you a pretty long time to come back…"

Getting comfortable, Emily nuzzles the back of her head into her pillow as she raises her arm to rest over her eyes, "You know how far the go-karting place is. It's out of the city. Of course it's gonna take me a minute to go to and from."

"I know….I also know that it shouldn't take you two hours to get the car and come back." Hanna's strict tone slides off her tongue as she scrolls through her social media application, keeping her voice at a low murmur, _"_It's not_ that _far out."

Emily removes her arm from on top of her eyes and turns to face her emotionless friend that laid beside her, "…What are you trying to get at, Hanna?"

For the first time, Hanna peels herself away from her phone, locking the screen as she stared over at Emily. Their eye contact lasts only for brief second before she reached over towards the night stand on her side, "What's this?" she held up the DLSR camera with the display screen facing the brunette.

"_Uhmmm_…my camera?" Emily answers back with a hint of sarcasm masked within her confusion as she shakes her head, stating the obvious.

"No shit." Hanna rolls her eyes, "What the hell is on it?" Pressing play on the camera, Hanna tosses the camera into Emily's hands and within an instant, without having to look at the screen, Emily recognizes the ambience coming from the video and knew what video Hanna stumbled upon, "So this is what you're doing? You're recording your sexual activities with her now?" Hanna flicks her hands at the camera while she talks, drawing the skin around her eyes tight as she stares down at Emily, "What, am I going to find you two on a porn site next?"

"_Get the hell out of here."_ Emily pauses the video and chucks the camera to the side with her eyes narrowed and mouth hung open in annoyance, "We were on her rooftop talking and the kiss happened. There is _no_ _way_ I blatantly recorded us just for that purpose. I turned it off immediately afterwards."

"What the fuck-"

"_Wait a second…_" Emily adjusts herself to sit up as she tried to get a handle on things before they blew out of proportion, "You're getting riled up but you were snooping through _my things_. If you're trying to search for something, don't get mad at me when you find something you don't like." Emily rebuttal to Hanna's random attitude strikes a chord with the blonde, causing her to close her mouth and hold Emily's gaze in the quiet and dark room. Instantly feeling bad for snapping back, Emily sighs with a head bow, "Hanna, what's wrong?"

"The issue I'm having is that I called you like eight times and you didn't answer not one call, even when I know you had your phone on you." Hanna's voice raises a level above a whisper as she releases her recent feelings towards her friend.

Emily runs her hand through the root of her hair as she lays herself back down into her bed, knowing that she was in the wrong for leaving Hanna out in the dark from not answering her constant calling, "I'm sorry, Han. I meant to call back when I was on the road but I forgot."

"And you had Alison with you." Hanna narrows her eyes as she looked down at Emily lying next to her, "Didn't you?"

"Yeah, she drove the rental back since you guys were sleeping. She helped out."

"You saw me calling, Emily. You knew I was calling and you purposely didn't answer."

"I was driving!"

"_Bullshit_. You've never been one for driving safely. You snapchat while you drive for fucks' sake, you're always on your phone."

"_Woah."_ Emily arises from her resting position once again, cocking her head slightly to one side as she gawks with her now watchful eyes, "Did something catch on fire?"

Hanna rolls her eyes, "No, I-"

"Was someone at risk of dying?"

"No-"

"Was there severe situation that needed my presence immediately that would have caused me to do 100 on the highway?"

Hanna clenches her jaw as she fixes her posture, holding the tense eye contact between them both, "_No_."

"Then where is all of this coming from right now?" Emily shifts onto her side and looks at Hanna up and down with now softer and concerned eyes, "Your anger? Why are you blowing up at me?"

"Because I just don't like the fact I was blatantly ignored _several _times." Hanna leaves Emily's eyes and faces forward into the darkness of Emily's room, crossing her arms as she feels the heat of her aggression gradually start boiling every time she says it out loud, "You didn't answer me just because you had Alison in your car."

"That's not true." Emily exhales as she rubs her face in exasperation. The more times Hanna brings up the fact that Emily ignored her phone calls, the worse she begins feeling. She didn't answer the calls not because she was with Alison, she ignored them because she was…busy. Either way, she does feel at fault that she didn't at least text her the whole drive back to her apartment, "Hanna, we were asleep-_we all were asleep_. I woke up and tried to wake _you _up to go get the car. _You _were the one who said you were incapable of driving so, yes, I called for backup. Ok? _Alison_ _helped us._"

"You had two capable people downstairs. You could have woke them up." Hanna scoffs with a small head shake, shaking off Emily's attempt to make it seem like Alison saved the day if it wasn't for her contribution, "But no, you just decided to sneak into the night with her…for _two_ fucking hours."

"I didn't want to wake up Spencer and Aria." Emily groans as she feels like she's fighting a losing battle for an action that she should be getting thank yous instead of getting her head chopped off, "_Besides_….Alison is my girlfriend, Hanna. _We are dating._ Of course I'm going to want to be around her when I can. And when I need help, she's the first person I'm going to run to."

"_Really?_" Hanna snaps her head in Emily's direction on beat at the end of Emily's sentence, "_She's_ going to be the first person you run to when you need help?"

"Hanna…"

"No-no, you're right." Hanna surrenders with her hands lifted up, scooting off her side of the bed, and stands on her feet with Emily staring at her, confused as to what was going on, "You two are together and I'm just the friend that shouldn't get in the middle of your relationship."

Emily rolls off the bed as well, standing on the opposite side of Hanna as she goes to defend her bad choice of wording, "You know that's not what I meant-"

"But that's how it is, _right?_" Hanna continues on with her now sharp tongue, not even allowing Emily to finish her sentence as she crosses her arms, "When it comes to Alison, I should know my place."

"_Know your place…_?" Emily repeats in a cloud of confusion as walked over to the other side of the bed, beetling her forehead and her eyes squinted. She takes in a second to understand this entire situation: Hanna's behavior, the missed calls, the appearing element of jealousy towards Alison, Emily raises her hands to her face and rubs both of her eyes before she let out a long drawn out breath as she stands right in front of Hanna, "This isn't it-there's something else…..What are you really upset about, Hanna?"

Staring at Emily through the tiny gleam of light surrounded by darkness, Hanna's blue eyes shimmer in the slight illumination as she clenches her jaw, preventing herself from saying anything else. The room stands quiet for a moment before Hanna breathes out a sigh, "_Nothing_."

Emily searches into her friend's eyes for the truth within, knowing that she's lying to her through her mouth. Defensive and protective attitudes doesn't just dissipate to nothing, not when there is a source fire that has yet to be extinguished. Hanna begins to feel herself shrink under Emily's intrusive stare down to the point that she knew it would be just seconds before she'd crack. If there was one thing Emily possessed, her wide, brown eyes could be very intimating when used in a menacing way. Hanna always believed that she could pursue criminal justice and become an interrogator or maybe some kind of mobster, either or she's sure that Emily could get people to break. Right as Hanna breathed in, ruffling came from the lower level as quick footsteps ascended up the stairs, revealing to be the two sleeping beauties.

"_Guys!_ We forgot about the car!" Aria alarmingly noted to Emily and Hanna as she and Spencer introduced themselves dumbfounded.

Hanna waves them off, "Don't worry. Emily went and got it."

A wave of relief passes over Aria and Spencer as Aria runs her hands through her hair and turns to the side to face Spencer with a thankful sigh. "Both of you guys went?" Spencer asked out of confirmation.

"Nope, just Emily." Hanna holds her gaze with Emily who looks at her back with curious yet narrowed eyes, still trying to understand her.

"Just you?" Aria turns back to Emily and Hanna, looking at the brunette specifically with her finger pointed at her, "H-how did you drive two vehicles?"

Emily opens her mouth to speak but Hanna cuts her off as she continues to speak on behalf of her, "She called Alison and she went with her to get the car." Emily slowly gives a single nod for her response as she kept on sights on Hanna, not even looking at the other two brunettes that are staring in-between the two of them. The room grows silent once more with Aria and Spencer exchanging a brief look to each other.

"_Wow_…" Spencer pouts her lips out as a single hand reaches the back of her neck, "That was…that's nice of her to do that."

"Well, honestly, that's a relief because I'm still sore from that freaking race." Aria stretches out her arms above her head as she rose up on her toes, "Come downstairs with me, Han." she falls back to normal height as she extends her hand out for Hanna to grab, nodding her head in the direction of the stairs, "Let's relax while you feed me whatever is left in Emily's fridge." Hanna peels her eyes off of Emily and onto Aria with a very subtle smile that she's fighting hard against to not make an appearance on her face. However, Aria catches onto the hardness in Hanna's face smoothed away and she leans in and grabs Hanna's hand, getting a soft smile from the blonde before she quickly covered it up with a lip bite. Aria holds onto Hanna's arm like a love-struck teenager as they both trot themselves down the stairs leaving Emily watching Hanna leave her with Spencer who suspiciously eyes Emily.

"Is everything ok?"

Emily changes sights onto Spencer and lets out a deep breath as she walked back onto her bed, taking a seat, "_Yeah…_ it's just exhaustion still kicking in, you know?" she rubbed her face, trailing her hands into her hair as she gave Spencer a smile to prevent her from asking any questions that could potentially turn this peaceful night into a game of jeopardy. "Nothing too big."

"Hanna, what's going on?"

"Nothing." Hanna responds nonchalantly as she turns on the kitchen light and opens Emily's fridge for the sixth time that night. She's visited the kitchen so many times in one time frame that she could probably recite exactly what was in the brunette's refrigerator from top to bottom without looking. Still getting something new this time around, she reaches for the case of fruit and closes the doors, turning to face a rather displeased, tiny Aria who had her hands placed on her hips.

"This is not _nothing_, I know you." the smaller brunette pressed on through Hanna's façade, "What's wrong? You can tell me."

Hanna rolls her eyes with her head throw back in a sigh as she grips the container of strawberries in her grasp, "I took time off of my job, flew over here, letting money _fly out the window per day_ to spend time with you guys and to see Emily," Hanna brings her eyes back down to Aria with an annoyed facial expression, "_Not_ to see fucking Alison. Ever since we got here, all I've been seeing is her." Hanna walks over to Emily's dining table set in the space between her kitchen and living room and pulls out a chair with Aria following after her, "Emily is always trying to bring her over, trying to bring her in our circle. When we first got here, I see Alison. When we came over the next morning, I see Alison again. You guys basically _forced_ me to talk to her when I had no intention to." As she spoke, she could just feel the irritation build up inside of her at just the mere thought of how her small vacation turned out. Hanna opens the box and pulls out a thick and red strawberry, taking a bite of the bottom half as she begins talking again, "I just want to spend time with Emily but whenever she's not talking, she's _texting_ _her. Like all day_. I look over my shoulder to look at her and she on the freaking phone. I mean, I love Caleb; I'm madly in love with that sexy bastard but you don't see me glued to my phone, dying to talk to him when I'm around you guys. Now that broad is in _my rental_, driving in _my car_, touching everything inside, messing with the seat adjustments- she's fucking everywhere. I wanted to leave that bitch in Rosewood but now she's with my best friend."

Not entirely expecting such an angery rant coming out of Hanna, more like a small disagreement that she would have been able to solve just by listening to both sides, Aria slowly nods her head as she watches Hanna wolf down the strawberry in her hand, "Hanna…I get it. You're still not keen to the idea of her but…it seems like she's changed like how Emily said-"

"She hasn't changed." Hanna scoffs with a forced chuckle.

"Well, I think she has. Look, I didn't like the thought of her neither but seeing her now, Emily might be right."

"Ok, good." Hanna laughs as she reaches for another strawberry, "Make me seem like the bad guy."

"Hanna, I-"

"Emily was literally going to _fight_ _me_ over her." Hanna bluntly cuts Aria off as she leans closer to her, her eyes widen with a mixture of remembrance and shock, the fruit squeezed within her grip, forgotten. "I'm _sorry_ that I'm not so willing to open my arms to this girl like you three are. I'm sorry that I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. We deal with that girl and her shit all throughout basically our childhood and the second I see her a few years later, because she's quiet and she does these shy and timid smiles, I'm supposed to suck her off?"

Aria snorts from Hanna's ranting, being caught off-guard from her last remark. Through her laughter, she looks at Hanna who sits eating her food unbothered, "Nobody's sucking her off, Hanna." the brunette giggles. However, the moment the words leave her mouth, she takes a second thought as she tilts her head to the side, "_Well_…"

"I wouldn't even trust that girl to tie my fucking shoes." Hanna continues on with her tirade as she digs for another strawberry, "And can you blame me? _Can you actually blame me?_ She hasn't proven anything to me otherwise. Now to think when I call Emily that she's going to be around her-_oh!_" Hanna smiles at Aria with a big cheesy grin which throws the small brunette for a loop at the sudden change of emotions from her friend, "Who am I kidding? She won't even pick up the phone if she was around Alison. But you know what? _I'm just overreacting._"

Before Aria could even say anything in response to Hanna's comment, footsteps come trailing down the stairs, gaining both girls attention as they see Spencer and Emily make their way across the living room towards them. Hanna looks down at her strawberries and continues eating them with no care while Aria and Spencer exchange brief, silent looks that only they can mentally decipher.

"So _uhm_…since we're all awake…." Emily runs her hand awkwardly through her long, dark brown hair before shoving them into her jeans, "you guys up to watch something?"

"Yeah."

"Sure." Spencer and Aria both agree with a head nod to something relativity relaxing on the night before their flight in the morning.

"Okay, but if we do, all phones are _banned_." Hanna authoritatively commands with a smug smile, getting up from the dining table with her fruit and strolls by Emily, just barely brushing past her as she walks in the direction of the couch. Not completely understanding but sensing some hidden animosity, Emily's eyes stare at the ground, squinted, as Hanna passes her before she takes a quick glance over at Aria who shrugs back at her in return.

…

With the night comforting over the girls for their last time together, morning quickly came and so did the time. Emily showered, got ready, and followed after her friends to the airport to drop off their rental and to send them off to their separate flights that so happen to be at different times around the same time frame.

"Alright, tell Toby I said hello," Emily hugs Spencer as she grabs her bags on her way to her gate for her flight that had just been announced.

"I will, I will." the brunette gushes in the embraces as she bear hugs Emily, swaying from side to side for their lasting hug. "It was great seeing you again, _Emmmmmillly_."

….

"C'mere, short stuff." Emily lets out a big sigh as she extends her arms out towards Aria, "I'm going to miss seeing your _pretty, widdlo_ face around my apartment." she smiles at the brunette, wiggling her fingers but Aria holds her purse and glares at Emily, unmoving. Hanna confusedly looks in-between both Emily and Aria, not understanding why Aria became cold all of a sudden.

"That means get a move on, _thigh-high_."

"Okay," an irritated Aria pipes up with her finger lifted in the air as she passes a glance at her friends, "one more short joke out of any of you and _I swear,_ I'm going to hit _both of you_ so hard, your DNA is going to _shift_. Your great-grandkids are gonna invent time-travel _just_ to come back to try to stop this event from happening."

Emily and Hanna burst out laughing at Aria's unexpected threat, finding it truly hilarious and benign. Aria holds her stance seriously as she watches her friends lean on each other as they laugh at her "threat".

"_Get over here, Aria."_ Emily manages to get out through her giggling as she walks up to the smaller brunette and forcefully pulls her into a hug. Hanna follows behind and turns the hug into a group hug and embraces Aria tightly from behind.

"You're not gonna to hit anyone, especially if you're trying to make it past TSA."

"Well if you guys keep pushing me, I might just take that risk."

"You _would_ make yourself a flight risk." Hanna pulls away from the hug, side-eyeing Aria suspiciously with a finger wag, "_I gotta look out for you_…You're one of those low-key, psychotic people that nobody knows about until half the neighborhood is murdered."

"And you bitches would be my first two victims." Aria smiles haughtily at the accusation as she adjusts the bag on her shoulder, blowing the girls a kiss with a wave, "_Ta-ta_!" Aria spins on her heels and shamelessly struts away to her gate, leaving Hanna and Emily to ponder her last words to themselves.

"Damn…." Emily crosses her arms as her eyes stayed glued on Aria navigating her way out of the waiting lobby to her plane, "You don't think she meant that…do you?"

"Yeah, _for you_ maybe. She loves me." Hanna blatantly replies as she turns back to her chair where she waits for her flight.

….

With Hanna's flight to JFK the last one called out of Philadelphia, Emily gets ready to say her goodbyes to her best friend early this morning.

"Alright, _baaaaby giiiiirl._" Emily springs to her feet, getting ready to squeeze Hanna into a hug as her announcement is made over the intercom, "Time for you to go back to work to provide for our seven kids. And Oh?" a smile slowly creeps onto Emily's face as she hunkers down slightly, pointing her fingers at Hanna's stomach mischievously, "Do I sense we have another one on the _waaaaay_?"

"_Stop it_." Hanna smacks Emily's away from her with an annoyed face that hid the smallest of a smile. With the fluff of her hair, she grabs her leopard Christian Louboutin messenger bag and hooks onto her arm, "I'm requesting a marriage counselor when I get back."

Emily's smile is transformed into a surprised jaw-drop at the words of her play wife and mother of her full house, "_Marriage counseling? _We don't need a marriage counselor. We're perfectly happy the way we are-why would we need a marriage counselor? What do we need to counsel?" the words fumble out of Emily's mouth as her posture changes from confused to denial to self-justifying all within five seconds of standing in front of the blonde.

"You and your reckless behavior." Hanna sighs as she pulls out her iPhone, ignoring Emily staring her down with her signature wide eyes, "It's starting to affect the kids."

Emily's eyes dart back and forth in front of her as a collection of uncoherent, babbling noises leave her mouth all at once as she tried to defend herself in the midst of her sudden allegations. But before she could even fully pronounce an actual word, Hanna minimizes the gap between them with a harsh whisper.

"Christina came to me last night and asked me what a G-string was. A G-string?" Hanna narrows her eyes as she tilts her head to the side, "_Really, Emily?_ I know we have this _god-forsaken _open relationship but in front of the kids, _really?_"

Dazed in utter confusion, Hanna shakes her head with a roll of her eyes, grabs Emily's head, and leans it down towards her, placing a kiss on her forehead before she walks off to her gate to her flight back to New York. After the morning she had just had, sealing it off with a road heading to divorce with Hanna, Emily giggles to herself with her tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek as she twirls her keys around her finger. She makes sure Hanna is long gone, safely out of sight before she merrily prances her way out of the airport lobby.

…..

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

_Silence…._

_Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!_

The door opens to find Emily on the opposite end, grinning ever so happily, as she leaned against the door frame in her blue water fall, long sleeve, denim cardigan rolled up her forearms over her white crop top, white shredded jeans and Adidas sneakers. "_Alriiiight_, our day date staaarts…." she brings her wrist up to eye level to see the time on her watch, letting some seconds past for dramatic effect, "_right now_."

Alison blinks emptily at Emily, not knowing if she was serious or not, but seeing that the brunette was _fully _dressed, she figured that she wasn't joking.

"I'm…I'm not even ready to go out yet." Alison grimaces down at her nightwear. Before Emily was banging on her door, Alison had just gotten up about 20 minutes prior; 15 of those minutes was her on her bed telling herself to get up. It was barely 9 in the morning.

"That's fine." Emily shrugs off Alison's appearance, taking it barely with a grain of salt, "I'll wait for you until you are." Emily continues to rest herself against Alison's doorframe as Alison looks at Emily with a confused yet accepting smile that lingers between them for an awkward and silent five seconds, "I mean…I could wait inside your apartment or out in the hallway, either or is fine with me." Emily coughs out with a teasing smile as she looks down at the floor, crossing her foot over the other as she got herself comfortable.

"_Oh-uhm-come in, come in!_" Alison jumps up and moves to the side, opening the door and ushering Emily into her apartment. Emily pushes herself off the frame by her shoulder as she waltzed her way in with a sway in her walk, "I…didn't even ….expect you….to…._ok_." Alison shuts up, closing the door behind them.

….

As Alison showered and did her morning routine to prepare herself for her day-out, Emily sat comfortably on her couch as she skimmed through the various programs playing on the TV. When she told Alison yesterday that she wanted to spend the whole day with her, she didn't exactly have an itinerary printed out so she just decided to go out and be impulsive, go on a whim and let the wind decide where the day takes them.

"Did the girls already leave?" Alison asked as she stood looking at herself through the mirror in her bathroom, brushing through her newly blown out hair.

"Yeah, their flights were pretty early so I followed them to the airport, said my goodbyes and came straight here." Emily casually responded as she rested the remote down beside her, deciding to stop the channel on a running episode of Judge Judy. "Whatever you want to do, let's do it. There is _nothing _holding us back today." Emily claps loud enough for Alison to hear, "First thing that comes to your mind! Go!"

Caught off guard, Alison stares at herself in the mirror with her mouth hanging open as she begins to style her hair, not even thinking about a location for a date, "_Uhhh_-"

"_First thing! Don't think!"_

"Serena." Alison blurts out randomly, instantly doing a mental facepalm for her stupid answer.

"Ooookay!" Emily jumps to her feet and approaches the open bathroom door. She stands there for a moment, rubbing her hands together as she looks at Alison through the mirror, "….Who's Serena?"

Alison shakes her head to herself as she puts down her brush and opts for a comb to begin sectioning off her hair, "The movie Serena. Depression-era drama with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. I've been interested to see what that movie is about and I was watching over a trailer of it before you came that's why that was the first thing that came out…"

"Well, Serena it is." Emily shrugs coolly with a warm and receptive smile as she digs into her back pocket for her phone, "We'll buy tickets and go hop right in to see it."

"_Movies?"_ Alison scrunches up her face in total bewilderment, gawking at Emily as if she had just spoke gibberish to her, _"Now? In the morning?"_

"Yeah, why not?" Emily responded back in her continued lax tone, not moving her eyes from her phone as she typed away, "I mean tickets are genuinely less expensive early in the day because nobody is there, right? _Plus_, we have the whole theater to ourselves to stretch out and talk to our heart's content." Emily briefly looks up at Alison with a razzle dazzle of a smile.

"I've…just never been to a theater that wasn't packed let alone in the morning." Alison slowly allows herself to submerge into the idea of a morning movie date as she continues back into her hair.

"It'll be fine, don't worry." the brunette waves Alison down as she mindlessly walks closer to the bathroom, staring at her screen as she leans against the frame of its door, "_Alright soooo_…the next showing for Serena is at 11…." Emily peeks up at the blonde with a raised, playful eyebrow with a smirk to match, "Do you wanna try and catch that one?"

….

"Two tickets for the 11am showing of Serena, please?"

"Your total will be $17.20."

"Tickets are just getting more and more expensive…" Emily mumbles to herself as she fishes out her bills in her wallet. Upon seeing the price flash overhead, Alison digs into her purse to pay her ticket separately when halfway getting together her money she sees Emily slide out a $20 and hand it over to the teller, "Here ya go." As the employee does the transaction and Emily puts away her wallet, Alison peeks over at the brunette at the corner of her eye with a bit of surprise that she picked up the bill. Emily doesn't catch onto the look as her eyes are trained on the boy in front of her sorting back her change, making sure he's doing his job right, not sifting her not even a penny.

"$2.80 is your change," the worker rips out her receipt and places both the paper and money back into Emily's hand, "Enjoy your movie."

"Thank you." the brunette gives a single head nod to the employee before she leads Alison out of the hardly existing line holding three other people, hand in hand. As they walked, Alison, dressing in contrast to Emily's bright colors with a black, lapel zipper coat over her red blouse, black jeans, and black boots, kept glancing over at Emily, wanting to ask her why she paid for both of them when she was capable of paying for her own ticket. However, when Emily felt Alison's eyes on her, she turned to face her, causing Alison to bite her tongue. Emily caught onto this hesitation.

Noticing the small gasp she let out and instant closing of her mouth upon being seen, Emily points in the direction of the food they were about to pass, "You want to go to concessions?"

"Yeah." Alison quickly covers up with a forced smile, "Yeah, sure."

….

With medium sprite, box of skittles and Willy Wonka nerds, Emily holds the quick option of snacks in her hands as she and Alison walk into their designated auditorium.

And just as expected, not a soul in sight.

"_Wow._" Alison stares over the entire auditorium in awe of the vast emptiness as the large screen playing commercials reflects off the seats, showing them that this whole room is theirs for the taking.

"Well, I never told you this but uhm…" Emily sways side to side with a frisky yet secretive smile as they stop in the middle of the leveled floor, catching Alison's attention in a bit of a few different ways, "This room is another part of my apartment, actually. You never left my place. This is just an additional add-on that I have stored secretly within the city that _nobody _knows about." Alison begins giggling at Emily's confession which immediately gains a check in the brunette's head for her to keep going, "You know, I don't tell most people because they'll be like, _"Ah! Oh my gosh! Emily! Can I come over?"_ and all that pestering, you know, just using me for my money."

"I can see why." Alison cheek rise up to her eyes as she nods her head amused, putting her hands on her hips, she twists her body to face the inner part of the room. "This is gigantic. I've never seen anything like this on MTV Cribs."

"Yup…This is my theater room." Emily takes a few steps as she gazes out with arrogance, taking in a deep and dramatic sigh, "I've only came in here like twice…maybe three times this year? I don't come here a lot because it takes up a lot of electricity. But because I'm with _you_…" Emily turns around to face Alison who still has a small smile on her face, listening to Emily ramble on about her private lifestyle. The brunette wide grin softens down to a mere buzz, "I'll waste the whole damn city's power if I have to." The entire theater stands quiet between the two girls with the sound of the pre-movie advertisement sounding off in the background. Alison and Emily share a momentary gaze with Alison feeling all the heat rushing up to her face with every millisecond passing by. Biting her lip as she turns away, Emily extends her hands to showcase the open spacing, "Chose a seat, any seat you want."

The blonde breathes out, trying to relieve herself and her blushing cheeks from such a _smooth, _unexpected line that –if it was anyone else-, she would have scoffed disgustedly at. However, coming from Emily, the words didn't come off as a line or some kind of charm. Her words flowed out naturally, which is why she believes she's still blushing right now. "How about the top in the middle?"

Emily looks back at Alison with that once again mischievous smile creeping its way back on her face, "I'll race you there."

And with that, a more relaxed smile slides across Alison's face as the thought of a sudden challenge interested her. "Okay."

Hearing Alison give her green light, Emily pauses the blonde with a raise of her finger before she quickly jogged to the other side of the auditorium to the set of the stairs mounting up the opposite side of the aisles. She excitedly holds onto the drink and two boxes of candy in her hands as she leans in, ready to sprint up the stairs. She flashes a look on the other side where she sees Alison readying herself to do the exact same. _"Ready?!"_ Emily calls out eagerly as if she just reverted back to being eight years old all over again, "_Set?!_ …_GO!"_

Within that same breath, both girls raced up the steps, determined to beat the other. However, of course with her physical advantage over the blonde, Emily treads more ground faster than Alison and reaches towards the middle of the top rows but instantly is faced with a dilemma.

"Wait! Which seat in the middle there's like 100 of them?!" She blurts out as she finds herself dodging up and down the stairs as she sees Alison fidgeting to think as the race was still in ongoing.

"_This one!"_ Alison yells, randomly pointing to a middle section as she was already making her way down the aisle with the advantage of picking the seat. Being too high up with Alison's impulsive choice, Emily jumps down a step, trying not to spill the drink as she dashes down the aisle and nearly crashes into Alison as the blonde grabs and pulls down a seat first. Alison glances up at a panting Emily looming over her with a victorious laughter, bringing her hands into her chest as she leans back into her chair.

"_Okay_…That was a mess." Emily breathes out as she pulls down the neighboring seat, dropping herself tiredly as she tries to collect herself. "All that and I didn't even spill the drink." she hands over the soda to Alison as she drops the candy in her lap, "Because I'm freaking awesome like that."

Alison side-eyes Emily with a small smirk as she grabs the straw out of her hand as well, "You're supposed to be the gold medal athlete. Why are you so tired?"

"I'm more of a long distance person where I can control my timing and pace. That way I can last longer." Emily sighs out as she fixes herself from her clothing to fluffing out her hair, "That was a very spontaneous burst of energy I just let out."

"What, you can't handle random bursts of energy?" Alison raises an eyebrow.

Emily pulls out her phone from her back pocket, keeping her eyes down to herself as she pouts out her bottom lip, "…_Depends._"

"Depends on what?"

Emily stays silent, continuing to go through her phone as she leaves Alison eyes still searching the side of her face, hanging for answer. Alison eyebrow arches from curiosity to pinching together from confusion as she watches Emily seemingly ignore her question.

"Alright…" Emily exhales out as she places her phone out in front of her, fixing her hair once again, "Now, if you don't mind, a little theater selfie before our future presentation?" Still a bit puzzled from Emily's blatant change in conversation, Alison agrees in leans into Emily's shoulder to pose for the selfie. With her mouth slightly left hung open and Alison opting for a mere small grin with all the smiling taking place in her eyes, Emily takes the snapshot and looks down at it just as the lights began to dim with the movie soon to start. Satisfied with that she saw, Emily smiles to herself and leans over to show Alison before she placed her phone on vibrate, tucked it back into her pocket, placed her arm around Alison's shoulder as the first trailer began.

….

"_Morning." George approaches his crowd of men standing outside the steps of the town's hall as he called them all together for an announcement. _

"_Morning." They all call back in unison. George stands on the top of wooden steps, leaning against a post as his sights change from his men to the blonde, young woman sitting prestigiously on top of her white horse off to the side. As she connects eye contact with him, he rubs his hands together as he gets ready to address his men._

"_Ms. Pemberton's father owned the Vulcan lumber company in Colorado," he points out, having all eyes shift to her. She holds her chin high to remain poised in front of the staring men as George began to make his way down the steps onto the ground, "And she's equal to any man here. I expect you to follow her orders the same way you follow mine, Mr. Campbell, or Mr. Buchanan's."_

As the movie played out in front of them with still not a single person yet to join them since it started, Emily has been softly caressing Alison's hand in the palm of her own throughout. Something the way her warm fingers delicately rub hers, massaging them, would sometimes pull Alison mentally out of the movie and focus on how Emily's holding her. It would send her shivers down her spine to the touch she would almost call foreign. Occasionally, Alison would find herself in the twilight zone with the Emily. She would have to look at her, touch her, to make sure she was really there and not some sick joke her mind has made up from being so isolated. Then the reality would hit: Yes, this is real.

_Someone actually wants you._

_Someone actually cares for you._

_Someone in this world actually needs you in their life._

With her senses kicking up, Emily turns her head to the side to glance at Alison who had already been staring at her for a few seconds. Emily raises her eyebrows with a smile as a reception but the grin doesn't last on her face when she notices that Alison isn't smiling back. Her attentive eyes, the stillness in her face, the contemplation playing on her lips, Alison wasn't displaying signs of happiness.

_She's concentrated._

Emily's smile fades as she gets lost in Alison's gaze, the flashing the colors reflecting from the movie screen onto her face showed made her eyes stand out more, making it very easily to become hypnotized. Soon, the loud movie in the background became mindless chatter as the brunette felt her heart start to race. With her hand still in Emily's grasp, Alison leans into Emily and gives her a small kiss on the lips ever so innocently that it made Emily completely tune out the movie and focus strictly on her. As they break away from each other, Emily's eyes drift up to Alison's just to see that Alison eyes were staring at her lips with the slow breaths she was taking. Before Emily could make her next move, Alison leans in again for the second time that had the once innocence altered into a more desired yet slow kiss. Emily slowly turns her body to Alison as she let Alison take full control of where she wanted where they stood to go. However, lasting only a few seconds, Alison stops herself from going any farther and pulls back, keeping her face close to Emily's with their lips just inches away from each other.

"_Alison_…" closing her eyes, Emily whispers as she rubs her thumb over the back of the blonde's hand, feeling her small inner-voice of _self control _starting to buzz in the back of her ear.

…

"Man, sometimes I hate working the morning shifts. Nobody is here." a young teenage boy sighs as he leans over the concessions counter with a coworker of his sweeping the floor around them.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" the other teen responds back with a bit of astonishment in his voice as he takes a short side glance at his peer, "That's the best part about the morning shift. You don't have to deal with many people."

"How many people are here anyway?"

"Like 13 total? Spread about in different movies: A good chunk in _Insurgent_, three in _Tracers_ and two girls in that chick flick."

"What chick flick? _Serena?_" the first boy asks, getting a head nod from his coworker in return, "I don't understand the hype behind Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, honestly. How many movies are they gonna do together?"

The second boy sighs as he places the broom off to the side, looking far out through the doors to see the life of the city pass on by with no other customers wanting to give the theater their time of day, "Girls dig it, man. They like the romance and the forever love with the good looking guys, it's what sells." he leans his back against the wall as he crosses his arms out in front of him, "They're probably bawling their eyes out right now."

"You think so?"

"I can also guarantee they are. They're sitting in the seats, sniffling back tears as they watch the characters say some dry-ass _I love you's_ to each other. Girls do that with _every_ drama movie."

_-Meanwhile-_

Pulling up the moveable cup holder in-between them, Alison shoves her body up against Emily's as she wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed her deeply and feverishly. She moaned involuntarily arching her body towards the brunette's while Emily slid her hands inside Alison's black coat, rubbing and caressing her sides over her red blouse in turn enjoying the feel of her hands on the fabric. With no one in site and the movie playing out whatever scene it was on, the girls let their passion run excited as Emily gave her the most passionate kisses and she returned them with even more intensity. Alison glided her tongue gently but purposefully into Emily's mouth, catching the brunette's upon entrance as she closed onto her bottom lip. Emily's tongue was so soft and velvety, Alison simply couldn't get enough of it randomly enough with their location and timing. From the other end, as she squeezed her tight and pulled her closer, trying to keep up with her, Alison's brazen advance took Emily's breath away. There seemed to be this fire within Alison that made things from a six to a ten with the amount of energy and eagerness that she had. With all their kisses, –whether stolen or the more elaborate ones- they have never kissed like this before, and while they kissed, Emily's mind wanders off to what could have possibly set this bomb off in her to want to do what they're doing right then and there. No matter what it was, Emily was partially happy for it yet also partially nervous that they were going to get walked in on since they were in such a public place. If one thing was for certain, Emily was already fully aware of her aching sensation that was building from the tips of her fingers to her stomach and down her legs. With this known feeling, the self-control voice in her head only got louder and louder with touch, every moan, and every second passing by. Emily would never be one of those people to lose themselves in a dirty place like a theater but, if Alison kept working her the way she was, she's extremely lose to not recognizing herself. Her hands trickled down to the bottom of Alison's shirt, which were tucked into her jeans, and with on good tug, pulled the hem free out of the blonde's waistband, allowing her fingers to crawl all over Alison's bare skin as she continued to kiss her.

_Self-control, Emily. _

_Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control._

Alison took Emily's face into her two hands and held her head very still as she let Emily's tongue into her mouth and sealed her lips around it, slowly blowing her.

_ABORT MISSION. ABORT MISSION._

With her eyes closed, Emily pulls back, drawing her tongue out of Alison's mouth as she firmly held the blonde's waist in her desperate and hungry grasp.

"What?" Alison pants as her eyes darted back and forth, looking at Emily's seemingly strained face as the brunette keep her head bowed off to the side, "Wh-what's wrong?" Emily tries to gather herself as she brings her eyes to Alison's. When they came up for air for the first time, Emily could see the radiance in Alison's face. She was absolutely glowing, and her breathing wasn't exactly calm either. Thinking quickly, Emily didn't want to make Alison feel bad because she stopped so she thinks of the next best thing to do.

"_Shit._" Emily hisses out as she dropped her hands off of the blonde and pushed her into her seat, swiftly leaning back into her seat as well as they both stare up at the movie they have no idea what is the plot is anymore yet alone the scene they're in.

"What's going on?" Alison worriedly whispers as she peeks at Emily from the corner of her eyes. Seeing that they went from making out to be shoved back into her seat, she knew it must have been for a valid reason.

"I thought I saw a light…." Emily lies through her heavy breathing as she pretended to discreetly look in the direction of Alison's side of the empty auditorium, "A flashlight from security walking in." Alison turns her head to the far right side of room, looking for any sign of human life as her chest heaved up and down in adrenaline.

While Emily had Alison temporary distracted, she felt her body sit unsteadily in her chair. She holds out her right hand in front of her and realizes she's shaking from the rush she had. From the extra boost of rush she almost granted herself if she didn't quickly put an end to their little moment. Just as Alison was about to turn back to face Emily, the brunette reaches for the drink on the left of her and shakes it. "I'm going to refill on this really quick. Hopefully I'll see if anyone else is lingering around."

"_Okay_." Alison agrees with her head nods, gazing at Emily with the face of innocence that she normally had on. Without a second wasted, Emily hops out of her seat with the drink in hand and fast paces it down the aisle, the stairs and into the long corridor where she continues walking until she is out of Alison's sight. The brunette leans her back against the wall and throws her head back, staring up at the small lights above her as she took long and deep breaths. "This temptation…I swear it's a test…" she sighs out. She knows once they get to those moments, how easily it is to get lost and how easily it is to let hands wonder but she needed to keep herself together. The last thing she needed was to get so turned on to the point she would be willing to risk everything and take Alison right there. Just how she's been tempted with Alison inside of her vehicle the night before and now at the movies, Emily had to understand the little voice in her head that usually screamed self-control at her. However, as she thought about last night and how seriously close she was to having backseat sex with Alison, her mind wonders off to Hanna and how she blew up on her the way she did when she came home after dropping Alison off. She still never fully grasped the reason why her friend came at her. Although the reason was for not answering the phone, she can't help but feel something else was in the mix of that anger. Luckily, it died down during the rest of the night and was almost nonexistent in the morning but she can't help but wonder what was going on. Before she knew it, Emily's inappropriate thoughts of Alison were buried under the thoughts of her friend's well-being. The brunette shakes her head as she looks down at the cup in her hand, "We got a medium drink." she scoffs to herself, "I can't get a refill on this."

…

Alison sits with her legs crosses at the ankles as her eyes tried to follow along with the movie when her brain on something completely far away. Every five seconds she was looking towards the entrance of the theater, waiting to see Emily and her flowy blue denim cardigan walk from behind the wall and into view with a refill of their drink and possibly extra snacks. Yet, the realization of them paying $20 for this movie hits Alison and forces her to focus on the screen in front of her and try to understand whatever is left of the movie. As Alison catches onto the dialogue begin spoken between the two main characters but it doesn't last long when her mind begins to drift off once again.

_Where the hell did this surge of horniness come from…?_

She slouches down into her seat, biting the inside of her bottom lip and quickly shoots another glance towards the corridor to find it as empty as it was the last twenty times she's checked.

"**I've realized something and I'm not sure if it draws a parallel or anything…"**

"**Well, it's worth the try to ask, right? Go ahead. I'm all ears."**

**Alison nervously tugs on her finger as her eyes dance around the room, avoiding looking straight on to Dr. Elliott who patiently waited on Alison to speak. "I've noticed that….I don't have much of a….**_**a sex drive?**_**"**

"_**Mhmm**_**…" The psychiatrist nods, not even blinking at Alison's concern.**

"**And I'm not sure if it's the medication that's causing this but I've noticed that ever since I've been getting more intimate that I often loose interest quickly?" Alison grimaces slightly at the reality of her problem. It's always been a theory in her head but saying it out loud for the first time, it sounds like a real distress that could be a huge problem in the future. "I could be right in the middle of whatever I'm doing and then," the blonde snaps, "just like that I don't feel like it anymore. I don't feel like being touched or kissed or anything."**

"**Do you stop as soon as you lose interest?" Dr. Elliott questions as she jots down a few words onto her notes, which internally makes Alison anxious as to what she was writing down to put into her file.**

"_**No**_**…" Alison dolefully drop her eyes back down to her restless lands in her lap, "I keep going because I don't want to seem rude by just abruptly stopping and being like, **_**"Sorry but can you get off me?" **_**And Emily…" Alison sighs, shaking her head with a small hint of a chuckle, "**_**She has a sex drive.**_** Once she starts going…it's just a speeding locomotive heading towards a brick wall from that point on."**

"**In general, people with chronic depression can experience a loss of desire, take longer to orgasm, and simply find sex less enjoyable-"**

"**Oh, we're not having sex." Alison quickly corrected her psychiatrist with a wave of her hand, "I'm not sure if sex drive was the right word to describe it but yeah, we're just…taking things at a slow pace at the moment."**

**The redheaded doctor excuses herself with a small smile as she unclicks her pen and sets it down on top of her writing pad in her lap, "The whole process of sexual arousal starts with the ability to anticipate pleasure, which is lost with depression. But there are many physical factors can contribute to decreasing libido. As your body ages, there are social changes that can affect your mood and your self-esteem too."**

"**I just want to fix it before it becomes another issue, you know?" Alison exhales as she tilts her head to the side, glancing up at Dr. Elliott with weary and astray eyes, "I've just started getting a handle on things and I don't want to be jumping from medication to medication with each of them having at least one serious side effect."**

"**Well, let's see what we can do to help you out with that little problem." Dr. Elliott gives the blonde a reassuring and warm smile that prompts Alison to give a small closed-lipped smile in return.**

"_Hey_."

Alison jumps out of her thoughts as she glances over to her left and sees Emily taking her seat back down next to her with their refilled cup of soda. "Hey." she breathed out happily to see the brunette after apparently a long time it took her to come back.

"The guy in the front allowed me to get a refill on our drink although we brought a medium." Emily raises her eyebrows up and down as she handed over the cold, full cup to Alison to put down in her cup-holder.

"Looks like you struck luck, huh?"

"_I did, I did_." Emily stares forward at movie screen, observing yet another scene that she has no idea is happening. Matter of a fact, she barely knows what the movie is about but from the corner of her peripheral vison, she notices Alison gazing at her, almost in the same way she was earlier but in a more tentative way. After she had taken the time to call herself down and get rid of her thoughts, she felt them _flooding_ back in with just the mere notion of being this close to Alison again. "_Uhm_…you know, when I left, I actually did see a security guard walking around…" Emily leans into Alison and whispers, shielding her eyes away from the blonde's so she wouldn't know that she's lying or get warped into another weakening moment.

"Really?" Alison's eyes widen a bit as she genuinely asks with instant apprehension in her voice. Emily gives her a silent confirmation of a head nod which makes Alison slow herself down a bit. Even though she does have the adrenaline to keep up their engagement, the last thing she would want is to be seen, possibly publicly shamed and judged by the employees of the theater as if they were two hormonal teenagers. Alison leans back into her seat and faces forward, giving Emily the quick opportunity to sneak a small peek at her reaction of her fable. Seeing the look of nervousness and contemplation on the blonde's face makes Emily mentally groan. She reaches out and holds Alison's hand in her own as she props her elbow on her seat's armrest and rubs the bottom of her face, considering the thought if she would she attract too much attention if she was to just bash her face into the seat in front of her.

…..

"I don't know about you….but that movie _suuuuuucked baaaaalls_." Emily whines out to the heavens as she swings Alison's and her intertwined hands back and forth, finally walking out of the movie theater. "I felt like I was watching a foreign film like I had _no _idea what the hell was going on 98% of the time."

Alison nods her head in agreement as they walked down the steps of the establishment and onto the public sidewalk, going nowhere particular, "I'm sorry that we wasted money on that. I should have looked at reviews prior to buying tickets-"

"_Oh nonono_!" Emily quickly stops Alison from going on one of her apologizing trips as she turned her head to face her, "I enjoyed myself, don't you worry about that." She brings their folded hands up to her face and kisses the back of Alison's hand, causing her to let out a nearly blushing smile. They continue their path down the street, approaching the crosswalk on red when the thought just dawned on Alison that they were walking towards a crosswalk on red.

"_Soooo_. Since you insisted that we didn't bring our cars….what are we to do now?"

Emily takes in a gust amount of air into her lungs and breathes out just as easily as she looks up to the sky, squinting her eyes from the sun, "_Live_." she glances over at Alison who is shielding her eyes from the bright sun as well, "Enjoy the city, enjoy the nice warm and breezy weather. Enjoy life. That's what we're gonna do."

"And how are we gonna do that?"

"Well…" Emily ponders for a moment before her train of thought was interrupted by something she saw in the distance. She points Alison in the direction of her eyesight, a large city bus coming down the street, getting ready to pick up the bystanders waiting for its arrival, "It starts with us hopping on that bus over there. _Come on!_"

**Quite a few things we learned this chapter, eh? Somethings we learned we right in our faces, somethings were more subtle and would take a little more brainpower to get a good understanding of it. Enjoyed it? Well, by-golly I hope you did! **

**Can you sense something in the waters coming up?**

**Another thing: So one of my many failures in life was writing a short Emison Christmas fic. Have you seen it?! No….Yes?! Well, see…**_**whathadhappenedwas**_**….my plans were to be done and over with that fic before New Years but of course, when you want to do something, life knows exactly how to get in the way of your plans. So here we are a month later and I'm still adding to it. **_**But hey!**_** Any Emison is better than no Emison, right? So, if you're interested on something on the side from me, go ahead and skip to my other small fic called, **_**"The Holiday Essence"**_**. It has one chapter right now but I'm going to be updating it very shortly! **

**Alison Wonderland Part 2 to be updated sooner than you think….**

_**Review! Talk to me, babay! **_


	27. Chapter 27: Feeling Again

**You know whats sad? Typos and grammatical errors. You know what's even more sad? Typos and grammatical errors throughout my chapters when I reread them. ****Goooooood LORD, it makes me want to chuck my phone into the ocean when I catch them. See, when I typically start writing these very long chapters, it's around 12-6am and I'm already tired to begin with so a few things slip me here and there when I go through my draining editing process. All my fellow writers feel me on dis one. I hope it's not too cringe-worthy. Bless you all for sticking through it and I apologize for any of them you've encountered and will encounter in the future because it's-a-coming**.

**Anyways! Hello to all you beautiful faces! I am here for your Emisom needs! You've screamed and I've heard with this 13k worded chapter just for ju!**

**But first, I must get something off my chest. It miiiight be an unpopular opinion. So! Friendly PSA *Warning. Rant with spoilers from 6x17***

**Uhm….I hate PLL as a show right now. I hate everyone. I hate how boring it is, I hate their side-storylines, I hate the main storyline, I hate A and their emojis, I hate how A is having Emily's child as a threat like wtf are you going to do? Give birth to the baby and raise it as blackmail? I never cared about Cece, I hate all the new love interests, I hate Rollins, I hate Alison for being so naive and MARRYING HIM. Matter of fact, I hate how they completely washed away Ali's character to redeem her "bad ways" by turning her into a literal mother. I hate that scene with Alison and Rollins at Aria's house. They look like they were possessed and I hate that they made us watch that crap. I hate Emily for being ****a dumbass for not seeing who was driving that damn truck when she had the perfect opportunity to. I hate the girls for not calling the damn cops by now. I hate that 2 years of stalking, torture, and now having ptsd, they still sneak around, touching shit, doing shit they shouldn't be, and then complain why shit is happening to them. I hate how the costume designer for this season keeps putting Sasha in these grandma cardigans because they don't know how to dress her body, I hate the writers for what they did to this show, and if I see a red devil emoji one more time, I'm going to stab myself in my eye with a fork!**

…**.**

**enjoy this awaited chapter, loves :) this will be way better than the boring, stupid SHIT you've been watching so far for 6b :) don't mind me and my rant, I'll be waiting for you at the bottom. **

CHAPTER #27: Feeling Again

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Making their daytime date an impulsive one, Emily and Alison travel to the city via public transportation so that they able able to walk freely with no issues that comes with parking. Walking the streets and visiting various parks, Alison allows herself to get lost with Emily: something she's never done before. Even when she's with Miranda and Amy, two people she cherishes greatly, she still keeps her reservations at bay. However, ever since their start at the theaters, Alison had drastically dropped her guards lower than usual. For the first time in a long time, she saw life vibrantly. The birds chipping were no longer a nuisance but a cheerful melody. The sun's rays warmed up her skin with the light breeze gliding across her scalp, things that she normally took for granted, she began to experience once again.

_She was beginning to feel again._

Being swirled in her thoughts as she walks through a downtown park, hand in hand with Emily, Alison can't help but notice the looks she was gaining from strangers. It was one thing to start the dating scene again with showing small PDA but being in a gay relationship is something that's a completely different ball game than she's used to. It's almost like having a best friend….that you want to kiss, touch, and do pretty sexual things with, Alison processes to herself. With the silent glares she got from people passing by her, she felt Emily tightening her hand within her hold as if she was silently telling her it was okay and that she was there for her. That squeeze was all she needed to walk closer and nuzzle herself against Emily's side, with Emily wrapping her arm around her shoulder.

_She is beginning to feel again._

Strolling through the pathways in a park filled with people enjoying themselves with others silently reading to themselves, skateboarding, biking their way through, eating, and even a few sleeping on the warm, manicured grass, Emily hears the lively sounds of street performers in the distance. However, not immediately reacting to the music, she softly smiles to herself as she remembers the first time she and Alison went out to walk the park at night for their _totally not a date _date.

As they continue on their path, coming up on the group of guys sitting around with musical instruments and a small cardboard box placed at their feet in front of them, Alison and Emily slow down and observe the group's slow, melodic jam session that has attracted a few people to stop and watch them as well; some record the performance while others walk by, dropping whatever change they have into the box without saying a word.

"Thank you guys for your support. Honestly, we appreciate it so much." one of the gentlemen from the group speak up from the ending of their song, addressing the tiny crowd of four people watching them. The other members readjusts themselves, grabbing a quick bite of their sandwiches or a sip of water with the small time granted in-between plays. "We're just five friends who enjoy making music and being able to create such melody from scratch, you know? There is something magical about hanging around with your buddies, freestyling a song with a few bottles of Miller in everyone's bloodstream, am I right?" the tall, olive-skinned young man chuckles, gaining a few smiles from the crowd and his friends behind him. Putting away the harmonica he had in his hand and switching it out for a flute, he looks back as he starts assembling his instrument together,

"Let's say we speed things up with an upbeat tune for these fine people, shall we fellas?" the group of guys nod and vocally agree as they prepare themselves for another song. "Some of you guys might know this song, some of you may not." the speaker turns back around to the small crowd, "But if you do, don't be a stranger, sing along with us. This is _Fun_ by Pitbull and Mr. Chris Brown."

With no rush to be anywhere, Alison and Emily patiently wait to hear what the street performers have to offer with Emily's arm still snaked around Alison's shoulders, holding her close to her. Doing a small countdown, the men start up their next song with an upbeat R&amp;B dance tune fueled by Latin beats and instrumentation with the help of a piano keyboard, a conga, maracas, flute, and a few buckets used as a drum set. The performers do their cover of the popular song with their vocals doing small harmonizing in the background to add to the magic.

"_Oh! Feeling crazy."_ the friend shaking the maracas rhythmically sings aloud the first few lines of the song with a wide smile and eyes closed as he allows himself to become one with the music,_ "The moon is up! The night is hazy. Let's get lost in the shadows. Somewhere we can go where no one else can find."_

As the band really winds up into the song's chorus of Pitbull's dance hit, Emily subtly sways from the side to side for a moment before a thought bubble pops into her head. She slides her arm from Alison's shoulder and reaches for her hand, something Alison immediately caught reservations about.

"What are you doing?" Alison makes quick glances from their hands up to Emily's grin-baring face. Not responding back, Emily rocks their hands with the beat of the music as she daringly looked into Alison's eyes, saying exactly what she wanted to say without any words at all. "No, Emily. _No._" the blonde lowers her voice as she peeked at the people off to the side of them. She tries to pull her hands out of Emily's grasp, but the brunette tightens her hold, not allowing Alison to go anywhere.

"_Dance with me_." Emily's eyes lighten up as she whispers with a smirk so that only they can hear.

"In front of all these people? Are you _nuts?_" Alison shoots back with her eyes widening as she nonchalantly tried to slide out of Emily's grip so that she wouldn't gain attention from the other idle people standing around. Yes, she would consider herself finally enjoying herself after some time but not to the point where she could shamelessly bust into a duo dance in front of random strangers.

"Why not?"

"_Because!_ I'm not doing it. No."

"What are you afraid of?" Emily raises a brow with curiosity, "That people will look at you? All they'll see is you having fun and encouraging the performers while you do it."

"Em-"

"Do you know how to salsa?"

"_Uhm _no and I-"

"Well, let me teach you." Emily lifts Alison's hand in the air and spins her around in a circle before she pulls the blonde back to her, "It's very simple. All you're doing is moving your feet, your hips, and your arms."

Alison cowers her head as she feels all of her blood rushing up to her face in embarrassment, "Emily, _please_-"

"It's okay." Emily reassures her as she bows her head to find Alison's shielded eyes, "Just follow my lead and you will be fine." Emily lets go of one of Alison's hands to lift her chin up so she could see that she has nothing to be scared of. "_I got you._" she whispers with a smile. With Emily's smile being so contagious, Alison lifts the corners of her mouth to reciprocate but falls short due to the anxiety she feels building up within her. Raising her chin, Emily nods her head to the count of the music for a few seconds to find her rhythm before she begins two stepping from one side to the other.

"_Co-headlining on tour with Enrique. Often casa campo, who would've thought de que! Down in Key Largo, you know I'm on that sticky….icky, icky, icky, icky."_

"Just follow my feet." Emily instructs as they both look down at the ground, "When I go left, you go left. I go right, you're going right. I step forward, you step back. You step forward, I step back." Starting off slow and steady, Emily moves her feet around Alison's as the blonde tried to keep the rules in her head and apply them at the rate Emily was going. With a few missteps and stumbles here and there, Alison and Emily become in sync with their movements as they follow the basic salsa pattern. "Just like that._ Good, good_." Emily encourages her with a smile as she continues to move at a novice level in order for Alison to become comfortable, "Ok, now look at me. Try not to look down at the ground. Just feel the movements and your feet will follow. Keep your eyes up here."

"I just feel like I'm gonna step on your shoes."

"You won't but it's okay if you do. Just…._feel the music_." the brunette smiles as they continue to step side to side, "Feel the drums. Feel the congas. Feel the maracas. Let the music move you." Alison nervously nods her head and resists the urge to look down at the ground. Instead, her eyes drift off into the distance where she notices the people looking at them dance: one older woman smiling with everyone else, standing and passing by, staring at them for their random behavior. "Don't pay attention to them," Emily catches Alison's wandering eyes and the anxiousness making its way back to her face and movements, "look at me. _Look only at me._" Alison's eyes find their way back to Emily's as Emily lets go of Alison's right hand and places her hand in the middle of her back, "Rest your left hand on my shoulder as we keep our other hands up like this." With them standing slightly apart, Alison's right hand and Emily's left are joined in an upper-hand clasp, putting them in a salsa stance. "I'm going to speed up a bit, okay? Same footwork, now just add some flare."

"_Loosen up your body till you come undone! Loosen up your body, baby, come undone!_"

Alison nods her head with a deep exhale, unintentionally squeezing Emily's hand, "_Okay_."

With the green light, Emily counts softly to herself as she leads Alison with a quicker tempo of side to side, front, and back steps. Alison tries her best to keep up with her eyes glued to Emily's and her warm, encouraging smile before the brunette removes her hand from Alison's back and spins her around.

_Once._

_Twice._

_Three times_ before she brings Alison back into her with the sway of her hips rotating to the beat of the song. She loosens her hold on Alison, allowing her arms to move freely and less constricted as she turns this dance into her own.

"It's all about confidence." Emily mutters lowly through her smile, "even if you're messing up the steps, as long as you have confidence, you'll be fine." Alison nods once more as she tries to mimic Emily's style of moments, still telling herself how to do the steps in her head.

"_There you go! I see you guys!_" the lead singer ad-libs through the song, pointing to Emily and Alison dancing off to the side with a smile that takes up half his face. Genuinely happy that his band of friend's music is making people move warms his heart and only makes him more excited in his song singing. Emily laughs, nodding her head back at the performer as Alison drops her head down, giggling at the cheered shout out. Emily bows her head as well, putting her forehead against Alison's as they continued to rock, hand in hand with just the music and the air of Philadelphia being the only thing that moved them.

….

"Will that be all for you ladies?"

"Yes, please."

"Ok, your total is $19.42" the Shake Shack employee reads off the total of their order as they stand in front of the cashier in the semi-full establishment. Emily reaches into her wallet to pay for the order but Alison quickly beats Emily to the punch and hands the worker a $20 bill.

"Thank you, ma'am." the male employee nods his head as he opens the register and collects Alison's change. Putting her wallet away in her purse, Alison tries to hide her smug victorious face from Emily by keeping her head and eyes down but when the brunette hummed accordingly with a small smile, Alison couldn't keep her grin to herself.

"58 cents is your change." the worker rips the receipt paper and places the ticket and change into Alison's palm, "And your order should be ready soon."

"Thank you." Alison smiles and moves over to the side, allowing the next customer behind her approach the counter as Emily strolls slowly behind her with a smirk and large cup of lemonade in her hand.

"You know, I could have paid for it."

"You paid for the movies and the snack." Alison kept her eyes straight as they both walk over to an empty table to wait at until their order is called.

"So?"

"_So_…you don't have to pay for everything. I have money."

"I didn't say you didn't." Emily challenges with a casual shrug as they both sat on opposite sides of the table.

"Then don't say anything at all." Alison pushes back as she places her purse on the surface in front of her, looking at Emily with serious eyes that twinkled with a small shimmer of playfulness.

Emily excuses herself with her lips pouted in surprise of that bite back, "_Yes, Ma'am_." she salutes her with the military gesture of salutation, "What was _I _thinking? Sorry to step on your toes, your majesty."

Alison shakes her head and leans into the table with her arms folded on top of it, narrowing her eyes at the brunette, "You're excused." she responds back with a soft yet teasing smile.

…..

Deciding to sit elsewhere and soak up the sun radiating the warm weather, Alison and Emily enjoy their pit stop at the tables outside provided by the eatery. However, instead of sitting at the table normally as two people would, the two girls sit on the same side with Emily resting the back of her head on Alison's lap, using an extra chair to rest her feet. As she lays facing the sky with Alison tapping her fingers softly on the top of the brunette's head, Emily munches on her order of a hot dog while Alison tackles her vanilla ice cream.

"You should have gotten the hotdog." Emily informs the blonde as she talks out of the side of her mouth, covering her lips with her free hand, "_Soooo good_. Matter of fact, it _so good_, it'll make you _smack_ the next oncoming stranger."

Alison chuckles to herself as Emily continues to chew happily, relishing the flavors of the all-natural Vienna beef and all her toppings. Just then, Emily eyes an oncoming male about to walk past them on the sidewalk. She swiftly jumps out of Alison's lap with Alison almost dropping her ice cream, acting out quickly to grab Emily and pull her back down into her.

"_Emily!_"

"I'm just kidding!" Emily laughs out loud as she settles herself back into Alison's thigh. "I wouldn't _really_ smack someone because of this hotdog. I mean, I'd do it in my head but not in real life." Alison breathes out a sigh of relief as she reaches for a napkin to wipe off her fingers that caught a trail of her vanilla ice cream that almost tipped over. This only makes Emily giggle harder. "Here," she rips off a piece of her food from the opposite, untouched end and reaches up her arm up to Alison, "Try it."

Putting her used napkin to the side, Alison goes to grab the hotdog piece when Emily yanks it away from her hand, "_Ah_." Emily signals with her mouth, waiting for Alison to open hers so she could feed it to her instead. Alison glances down at Emily with squinted eyes, however, Emily ignores her look as she waits, shaking the ripped off piece in front of her face. "_Ahhhh!_"

Alison rolls her eyes, hiding her smile, and opens her mouth, allowing Emily to gleefully place the hotdog onto her tongue.

"Now chew and taste the wonders of the world." Emily looks up at Alison from her laying position, waiting for Alison's response. The blonde chews for a few seconds, making a few subtle faces of pondering before she swallows the hotdog down.

"Ugh. That was _horrible_." she grimaces as she sticks out her tongue in disgust.

"Oh stop! No, it wasn't." Emily giggles as she playfully hits Alison's arm, not believing her first reaction, "How was it really?"

Alison goes back to eating her ice cream, looking out into the distance of Philadelphia's busy city with cars honking and people walking everywhere. "Eh. It was okay."

"It was okay." Emily mocks as she looks back down at her hotdog in her hands, taking another bite of its savory goodness, "We need to get your tastes bud checked out. You're missing out on the wonderful flavors of Shake Shack." Emily closes her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows together as she gulps down, "_Hm_. Fry me."

Alison reaches into the basket of thick crinkle cut fries, pulls out two, and drops them into Emily's open and expecting mouth, prompting her to chomp on her order of sides. "The wonders, I tell ya." the brunette mumbles, "_The wonders_."

As they continue to eat their food, the overhead music being played by the establishment for the eaters outside catches Alison's attention as she mumbles her singalong. The slight pitched melody coming out of Alison's lips makes Emily's eyes widen in complete surprise.

"_Whaaaaaaaat_?" Emily sits up with her mouth hanging in a smile, initially scaring Alison from the sudden exclaim, "You can _sing?_"

"_Sing?_" Alison stares at her with her eyes almost mixed with shock and fear as she wiped the side of her mouth, "No. No, I dont."

"You were just singing."

"I was mumbling the words."

"You were singing."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Sing!" Emily gently nudges Alison's arm like an impatient five year old, "_Again!_ Do it again!"

Alison rises her shoulders, basically stuttering over her words, "I didn't even-"

"_Please_? Just do it for me." Emily pouts, "I wanna hear it."

Alison sighs with sigh of defeat as she waits to hear what part the throwback song was at for her to jump in along to please Emily's begging needs. Clearing her throat, she sings lightly to the end of the chorus. "_Promiscuous boy, let's get to the point. Cause we're on a roll. You ready?_" Alison tilts her head at Emily, doing only one line, "Happy?"

"_Don't be mad, don't get mean_." Emily responds back to the blonde by reciting the next line of the song. Waiting for Alison to do the next line, Emily is received by Alison's confused face which brings her to continue reciting the words of the Nelly Furtado song, "_Hey! Don't be mad, don't get mean._" Emily waves Alison in to singalong with her.

"_Don't get mad, don't be mean._" Alison delivers the following line, hesitant about doing another form of a performance out in public but continues on anyway because of the glow of a smile on Emily's face was something she couldn't see herself disappointing.

"_Wait! I don't mean no harm. I can see you with my t-shirt on."_ Emily wavers her hand in front of Alison as her eyes trail down her body, shamelessly.

"_I can see you with nothing on, feeling on me before you bring that on."_ Alison responds back with a timid bite of her lip with her eyes catching Emily's again.

Emily leans back with a brow raised in an arch, "_Bring that on?_"

"_You know what I mean_." Alison rolls her eyes with a smug smile.

"_Girl, I'm a freak, you shouldn't say those things._" Emily wiggles her body in Alison's direction with the lowering of her head and a dark, suggestive grin to match.

Alison bursts out into giggle-fit, unable to continue on with the song as the sight of Emily and her expressions made it hard to be 100% serious. "Ok, I'm done. _I'm done_." she waves Emily down, covering her mouth before she went back to eating her ice cream that was almost done.

"_It's okay, it's alright_." Emily continues to sing as she grabs another fry, not taking her eyes off the blonde who hid her face from her, "_I got something that you gon' like_..."

….

Just making their way around the city for a few more hours, before they knew it, it was soon to be five o'clock and they decided that he was time to head back towards the apartments. Of course, however, Emily wasn't going to let Alison go back to _her _apartment because their day together wasn't finished.

**"Spend the day with me...and then stay the night over."**

Winding down as they found themselves getting comfortable on Emily's couch, purses, shoes, cardigans, and jackets were off and put to the side as they laid together with Emily's arms wrapped around Alison's waist from behind while their feet gently brushed against one another in coziness. All while watching an episode of Parks and Recreation.

"I like being back here." Emily snuggles closer into Alison's back, gripping her tighter as she rests her chin on Alison's shoulder, "Your hair smells good. What do you wash with?"

"Organix coconut milk shampoo and conditioner." Alison responds back, looking at Emily through the corner of her eyes before she looked back at the TV, "Sometimes I use the Moroccan argan oil shampoo and conditioner. They're pretty good and you can get it at a few different places."

"Damn, you smell like a million bucks right now. I'm going to end up buying them."

"Why? Your hair always smells good."

"And how would you know that?" Emily suspiciously questions as she cocks her head to the side, "You're sniffing my hair when I'm not watching?"

"_No_." Alison scoffs nonchalantly.

"No? You said _always _which means _frequently _which means _all the time_ which means you smell my hair all the time!"

"No, I don't!" Alison defends herself from the sudden accusations that she was hit with, simply just because gave a compliment.

"_Na uh uh!_ You've been caught, _you hair inhaler._" Emily squeezes Alison tighter, pulling her closer to her with a smile to her words,_ "_Now I gotta watch out for you and your sneaky ways."

"I don't-_urgh!_" Alison huffs out loud, starting to blush out of embarrassment from the now reputation she just picked up. On record, Alison never purposely smelled Emily's hair but when the brunette has her hair draped over her when they…_"talked"_, the pleasant scent overwhelms her nose.

Emily phone begins buzzing on the coffee table in front of them, prompting her to let go of Alison, get up, and check to see who was calling her, "It's okay! People have their fetishes! I don't judge!"

_Jack-Jack :P_

_mobile_

_[Decline] - [Answer]_

"Give me _oneeee_ second, please." Emily pardons herself as she accepts the waiting call and walks over towards the kitchen so she wouldn't disrupt Alison watching TV. "Hey, Jack-Jack."

"E-Maestro! What's up, baby!" Jack excitedly greets the brunette.

Emily can't help but smile to herself as she walked towards her fridge and pulls out an unopened water bottle, "Nothing much just chilllllin'. You?"

"Well, you're about to be fucking _flying_ when I tell you what I just found out."

"What?"

"Alright, so we weren't supposed to know this until hours before to prevent the secret from getting out but the whole bar-_the whole_ _place _is being closed off to the public tonight and rented out."

Swallowing down her gulp of water, Emily turns around and rests her back against a counter, looking over in Alison's direction as she entertains Jack's conversation, "Why?"

"Not why, _who!_" Jack shoots back immediately, causing the brunette to squint her eyes, "You know about that boxing movie they're filming? Creed? The guy who's the son of Apollo from Rocky? Yeah, the fucking cast is here is in the city tonight and they rented out _OUR_ bar for the _whole_ night until closing!"

"_No way!_" Emily gasps unexpectedly as she covers her mouth. Alison flashes her a glance from the cry out with Emily only waving her down dismissively, turning her back to the blonde as she processes this information.

"_YES FUCKING WAY. _Aw man! You and I are gonna be making fucking _BANK_ tonight. You better bless the big man upstairs for having you work today because _damn_…The tips we're going to be making is going to be _holy_." Jack laughs flagrantly, "Unless they're some a cheap motherfuckers, then I'm gonna be pissed."

Jack's sentence caught Emily completely off-guard, pulling her out of the joyous moment she was just sharing with him when the bold realization hit her.

_I work tonight?...I WORK TONIGHT. SHIT!_

"Yeah…" Emily recovers back into the conversation now a bit less enthusiasm as her eyes dart back and forth in front of her. _How could she had forget that she had work?_ "That-that'll suck for sure."

"But yeah, I decided to call and let you know what you're up against in a couple of hours. Make sure you get here about 20 minutes early and don't tell a soul. You hear me over there, Donald duck?"

"Yeah…_Yeah_ I hear you. Thanks for calling!"

"No probs…Jack-Jack out."

Emily ends the call and grips the phone tightly in her hands as her thoughts began to run a mile a minute, trying to understand what her next move was going to be.

_FUCK. _

_FUUUUUCK. _

_I can't cut my day short with Alison….but…..I could really use the money…._

_Duh! I'll just bring Ali to work with me. She can meet and mingle with them while I work the bar, that way we can knock two birds with one stone. Yeah…Yeah that'll work. _

_Wait! What am I thinking? I can't bring someone to a rented out private party, especially if it's a celebrity. _

_FUCK. _

_I can't send Alison home, I promised her the whole day together. If I go to work, I'm not coming back until two in the morning…._

_But the money! You can't pass up an opportunity to meet actors like that. shitshitshit. What am I gonna do?_

"Is everything okay?" Alison pops up from the couch, noticing Emily fidgety like behavior in the corner of the kitchen that was beginning to worry her.

"Yeah, everything is fine I just gotta…I just gotta handle something real quick." Emily quicksteps past the living room and up the stairs to her room to give her and Alison some space so she could think, "Keep watching the TV!" she called out over her shoulder as she jogged up the stairs, "Just…gimme a moment."

_Okay think. _Emily preps herself the second she reached the top step into her isolated room.

_Alison…or money. Okay. If you ask most people, they would say money, hands down with no hesitation. I mean, we can always finish this date tomorrow. _

_No, tomorrow we both have classes and work. And I'm not waiting until next weekend to do this again. Besides, I was actually looking forward to her spending the night._

_But money. I'm already on low as it is. Anyone could use a few extra hundred dollars because I know I can. Plus celebrities, Emily! That's connection city! You can talk to them the whole night and gain something. This is actually a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can't pass this up. _

_You know what, I'm going to ask someone for their opinion. I need another thought on this one. _

_Wait... _

_Ugh…Jack just said not to tell a soul. Ok. Decision time because now you're running out._

_Alison or work?_

"Is everything alright?"

Caught off guard by a voice that wasn't in her head, Emily turns to see Alison standing on top of the stairs, watching her pace back and forth.

"Yeah, everything is good." Emily forces a smile as she crosses her arms anxiously at Alison's surprise appearance, "Why do you ask?"

"Because you're mumbling to yourself and walking in circles after ending your phone call." Alison points out the obvious with an apprehensive face. Being called out on her sudden behavior, Emily goes to open her mouth for a rebuttal, however, no audible words were made. Alison walks into the room more to approach Emily as she now starts feeling concerned, "Em, tell me what's going on."

"It's nothing, honestly." Emily lies, bringing her lips together for a tight and unconvincing smile as she pockets her phone in her back pocket. Alison lowers her head with a skeptical eyebrow raise that told Emily she was not buying the lie she was selling. Unable to continue on anymore, Emily sighs and bows her head, "I just got a call from Jack about the job."

"You were fired?!" Alison jumps at Emily's reveal with her mouth hanging in distraught. Instincts kick in and the blonde reaches out for Emily's hand and begins soothing her fingers with a soft rub down. "I am so sorry, Emily."

Emily laughs at the reaction, shaking her head as her eyes stayed down on Alison caressing her hand, "Nonono, I wasn't fired. It's the complete opposite, actually."

"Then what is it?" Alison cocks her head to the side, now more confused than she was 10 seconds ago.

"Jack called me and reminded me that I had work today which I totally forgot that I had. Now, I could call in and get someone else to cover for me-"

"Why would you do that?"

"_Because today is our day_. And we are supposed to spend it together with no interruptions or anything." Emily pouts with sad bowed eyes, "But see, in that call, Jack told me that the bar is being rented out to a private party. The cast of the upcoming movie Creed's private party. Sylvester Stallone, Michael B. Jordan, Phylicia Rashad-"

"AND YOU TOLD HIM TO GET SOMEONE TO COVER FOR YOU?!" Alison fires back with more of a punch than Emily expected, throwing the fingers she once was caressing down of out her grasp.

Emily's mouth hangs as she goes to explain herself, "I-"

"I understand that you want to be with me but….these are famous actors we're talking about!" Alison cuts Emily off, still ranting about the brunette's new found opportunity, "Coming to your job!"

"I know! But-"

"But nothing! _Emily!_ If I would have found out that you turned down this opportunity just to do nothing but watch Netflix all day, I would have knocked you over the head with a club and dragged you up and down this building like a caveman."

"Alison-"

"No! _You're going!_" Alison quickly steps out of Emily's sight and walked towards her closet. She flings open the doors with authority and scans around to see Emily's selection of bottoms, "You're going to put on something nice and comfortable. And black since black compliments everyone's body." Alison grabs a pair of black skinny jeans propped on a hanger and examines it, making sure it fit the idea she was running with. Pleased with her choice, she goes back into Emily's closet and skims though her tops to see what she offered.

"Now, with the top, there are various things you could do. It all depends on how you're feeling at that moment." Picking out a black bomber jacket with a white stripes going down the sleeves, Alison adds that to her outfit combination, "You can go with a more body conscious and figure flattering rather than low cut or showing skin. Or you can do tank tops. They're durable and just sexy/casual enough to pull you to pull off." Alison browses through Emily's clothing as if she was in an apparel store, flying through the racks as if there was a first come, first serve sale.

"First drawer on the left." Emily softly directed her to her dresser that held her tank tops. Emily felt almost in a small haze as she watched Alison go through her things to find her an outfit. She wasn't sure exactly why but seeing the commanding side of Alison was adorable to watch through her eyes. All she could do is stand there and smile to herself, not wanting to butt in and give her opinions.

"Like this one." Alison pulls out a fitting black tank that had bold white words written on them, "_Hakuna Some Vodka._ That means let's get wasted." Alison reads the graphic she held the top in the air. Glancing over it front and back, she let out this small, child-like giggle at the adult version of the classic Disney phrase. "I like this one."

Hearing Alison giggle the way she did, with her cheeks rising up to her amused eyes and her bottom lip curving at the corners into a lip bite, Emily's brain melted. There was just something about Alison today that she couldn't quite put her fingers on. However, whatever it was, Emily was a fan of it. A huge fan.

"So, yes, you should wear this." Alison turns to face Emily and her not so subtle love-struck gaze. "Go ahead and fluff your hair, make sure your teeth are extra white, throw on a perfume of your choice…." Alison walks back to the brunette and hands her the personalized styled work attire for the night as she looks into her eyes, "and go make the biggest tip you've ever gotten in your life."

Emily laughs as she drapes the clothing over her arm, "I can't believe you're pimping me out for these people."

"But doesn't it go together?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"_See__?_ I think I know what's good for your body." Alison narrows her eyes as she innocently coos in a dropped down tone but comes out everything but innocent.

"Aha!" Emily points her finger at the blonde, wagging it at her mischievously as she brought the finger close to her grinning face and squinted eyes, "You can't saaaaaay thaaat."

Alison gives Emily a confused look with her lips pressed together and head cocked to the side, "Why? Wasn't I the one that told you that first?"

"You did…." Emily trails off in her response. She feels a very familiar feeling beginning to plague her and she knew it would be just moments within their flirting that she would be unable to tame herself. Nonetheless, she keeps her thoughts to herself with a nervous laugh, looking away from Alison's curious eyes.

…

"Alright so I'll text you to keep you updated. Anything in the fridge or pantry is yours for the taking, just make yourself at home." Emily rounds up her things as she stands in the living room, giving directions for Alison sitting patiently on her couch, taking in her every world along with her body in her outfit. However, the brunette is too busy racking her brain to notice her wandering eyes.

"I should be back later tonight depending on how everything goes. Hopefully, I don't have to stay until the full 2am. _Uhmmmm…_" Emily runs her hands through her hair as she looks around her apartment, trying to remember a thought she had earlier. She mumbles to herself for a few seconds before it hits her again, "_Oh!_" she digs into her back pocket as she steps to Alison, "And here's a spare key. Just in case you leave for whatever reason and need to get back in without leaving the door unlocked." Alison glances down at the silver key placed in her palm for a moment before she looks back up at Emily who is ready to fly out the door.

"We have to be there about 20 minutes earlier than usual so I have to start heading out like right now."

"Okay." Alison pushes herself off the couch and extends out her arms to give Emily her goodbye, "I'll see you when you get back."

"Alright. Bye." With her keys and bag gripped in one hand, Emily leans in for a side hug, resting her free hand on the small of Alison's back as the blonde wraps her arms around Emily's neck in a warm embrace. When they pull away, Emily sneaks a quick peck on Alison's lips but, when turning away, Alison's hands slide to both sides of Emily's face and lures her in for a real kiss. A kiss that totally caught Emily off-guard from the small peck she just gave her. Alison pushes her soft lips against Emily's, catching onto her bottom lip instantly. Emily quickly moves in-sync with Alison, gripping her waist as Alison rises up on her toes to get a better position of her tongue softly brushing Emily's before she consumes her lips again. Alison softly moans her way out of the kiss, still holding onto Emily's face, before she boldly looked directly into her brown eyes.

"Enjoy yourself tonight." she whispered with a soft smile that had all the glow swirling in her blue, clouded gazed.

"I'll try…" Emily whispers back with herself temporarily lost within everything Alison that she couldn't really come up with a proper response. Now she's really hoping that the party ends early just so she can come back to this. Celebrities or not.

…..

_Today 10:16pm_

_Emily: _They're not even here haha

_Alison: _Really?

_Emily:_ Yep. We've just been kinda standing around, making sure everything is good to go and they haven't arrived yet. Most likely staying late on set or something

_Alison:_ Fucking actors. I swear you can't take them anywhere

_Emily:_ Lmao. Right?

_Alison:_ So when you say anything is mine for the taking….does it include this Ben &amp; Jerry's?

_Emily:_ …..

_Emily:_ Ok everything but the Ben &amp; Jerry's

_Alison:_ Too late. Already have the spoon out.

_Emily:_ Don't!

Alison: scooping as we speak.

_Emily:_ Nonononono I was saving that for later!

_Alison:_ This beautiful S'moria Steinem is going to taste so good going down.

_Emily:_ NOOOOO!

_Today 10:24pm_

_Emily: _Alison?

_Today 10:27pm_

_Emily: _Please don't tell me you ate it

_Today 10:30pm_

_Emily: _You're a good person. Good people wouldn't eat other people's ice cream

_Emily: _Especially Ben &amp; Jerry's!

_Today 10:38pm_

_Emily: _You did it, didn't you…?

_Alison_: I sure did. And let me tell you.

_Alison:_ It was delicious.

_Alison:_ You should buy some mora

_Alison:_ Get it?

_Alison:_ S'moria

_Alison:_ Haha! I'm hilarious

_Emily:_ You shattered my heart.

_Emily:_ And that pun...it killed my soul.

_Emily:_ I am now a broken woman. Thx to you.

_Today 12:15am_

_Emily:_ I really wish you could have been here. So many people I would love to introduce you to!

_Alison: _Anything fun happening over there?

_Emily:_ Well, if you mean Stallone dueling Michael B. to a hot wing eating contest just like we did to see who's more manlier?

_Emily:_ then yes lol

_Alison:_ Definitely take pics if you can!

_Today 1:20am_

_Emily:_ Looks like I'm staying until 2. Don't wait up if you're tired.

"What did she say?"

"She'll be most likely staying until 2."

"Good, we have enough time then."

….

Putting her keys in the lock of her apartment, Emily huffs tiredly as she uses her shoulder to push the door open. Emily waits to be greeted by Alison waiting for her on the couch but upon closing and locking her door, Emily is received by nothing but silence. She turns around in the dark living space and sees the blonde nowhere in sight.

_Hm. She's probably upstairs sleeping._ Emily says to herself as she slips out of her shoes and places them close by the door. She makes her way across the room and goes up her stairs, making sure to tip toe quietly in case Alison was sleeping. Coming to her mind, Emily gets slight butterflies at the thought of coming home to someone. The foreign feeling she's never felt since living on her own is something she could get used to quickly. Especially if it's with Alison.

Getting to the top of her steps into her room, Emily hopelessly beams to herself as she approaches her bed, squinting her eyes to see if the blonde was sleeping. Nevertheless, as she got closer, she realized that her mattress was flat and untouched. This confused her.

"Alison?" Emily calls out, turning on her room light. Just as she suspected, Alison wasn't there. She brings her eyebrows together in confusion as she looked around the room as if Alison was laying on the floor or standing in one of the corners. Setting her keys and bag on top of her dresser before she walked over to her bathroom, Emily cautiously approaches the closed door and knocks on it.

"_Ali?_ You in there?"

_Silence._

Emily turns the knob of the bathroom door and was greeted by blackness. She flipped on the switch to find another place Alison wasn't in. _Huh._ Now getting a bit concerned, Emily pulls out her phone from her jacket pocket and opens up their text conversation.

_Today 2:15am_

_Emily: _Made it back home. Did you leave or step out for something?

Emily sends the message and stares at her phone, waiting for an immediate response back. With 20 seconds passing by with nothing, Emily starts typing again.

_Today 2:15am_

_Emily: _If you do come back, I'm going to be in the shower if you need anything.

Emily stares at her phone for another 20 seconds, anticipating some kind of message to come through on Alison's side. However, it never comes. _She didn't leave because I stayed out too late, did she? I mean….she didn't go back to her apartment, right? Because she would tell me. Wouldn't she?_

Walking over towards her bed and swooping down to grab her charger, Emily connects her phone and tosses it on the mattress as she began to disrobe and take off her jacket.

_Buzz! Buzz!_

Emily speedily pounces on her phone, turning on the lock screen to see the message Alison surely wrote back.

_1 new message!_

_273283:_ View your Michaels coupons at Reply JOIN3 to opt-in for up to 8 text message alerts per month from Michaels.

Emily groans at the text she was not expecting to see. Before she was ready to drop the phone, her phone vibrated in her hand again. Her eyes sped back to her screen to see the other message she had just received.

_Today 2:16am_

_273283:_ StdMsg&amp;DataRatesApply. Reply STOP to cancel. HELP for more info

Irritated, Emily chucks her phone back on her bed and begins unzipping and taking off her pants. Hopefully Alison just went on a quick food run or something and will be back by the time she steps out the shower.  
…

Unlocking the door of the apartment, Alison slowly pushes the door open and scopes out to see if Emily was anywhere in sight. Noticing the emptiness of the first floor and hearing what sounded like a blow dryer being used upstairs, Alison quietly closes the door behind her and lets out a deep sigh as she slings her overnight bag off her shoulders. She gives herself a second before she begins getting herself comfortable, taking off her shoes and hanging her jacket on the nearby wall hooks. She walks over towards Emily's couch, sets her bag down, opens it, and begins fishing out her things. She had limited time so she knew she had to hurry.  
….

Emily unplugs her hair dryer and wraps it up, putting it away after taking a shower to wash away the scent and sticky messes of her long shift. Throwing on a distressed, faded blue Superman T-shirt, braless, and small black shorts to sleep comfortably in, she looks into the mirror and shakes her hair to her liking. Afterwards, she pops open her bottle of baby lotion and beings rubbing down her hands, arms, and legs.

"_Emily?_"

Emily pops her head up, mid application, not sure if she heard her name being called or not. "_Alison?_"

"I'm sorry that I left. I had to run to my apartment for a moment."

"Oh, it's okay!" Emily begins grinning cheerfully to herself as she finishes up. All the thoughts of Alison getting cold feet and abandoning her was plaguing her mind all throughout her shower. But now that she's back, she can't wait to jump into bed with the blonde, wrap her in her arms, and talk until they drift off to sleep. Closing her lotion and putting it back on the sink counter, Emily turns off the lights and walks out of the bathroom into her room. "For a second, I totally thought that y-"

Emily stops dead in her tracks, halting all movements and speech as she stares at Alison looking at herself in the dresser mirror. Alison fluffs her hair, running her fingers through it before her eyes divert to Emily's reflection gawking at her with wide eyes and a hanging mouth. Alison smiles at the sight and turns around to face the brunette with a slightly altered attitude than usual.

"Thought I left you?" Alison finishes Emily's sentence that she couldn't seem to complete herself. She shakes her head with a tsk, "_No._ I just needed to go home and slip into something a little bit more…._inappropriate_."

_**AN HOUR EARLIER**_

"**I feel like I'm behind the scenes at a Victoria's Secret fashion show and I'm working on one of their **_**angels.**_**" Amy nudges Alison's back with a playful grin as she clips up Alison's hair so that she has a section at a time to deal with. Alison lightly smiles as she keeps her face still so that she doesn't disturb Miranda who is applying her highlights and contour.**

"**I've never had to prep anyone for sex before and let me tell you," Miranda leans back away from Alison's face with her eyes squinted, overlooking her work to see if everything is coming out the way she wanted, "I'm glad I am now." she comments with goofy grin to accompany Amy's who is now smiling again, "Honestly, this is so fun. I am **_**living**_**."**

"_**Right!**_** Like now I wanna watch!" Amy agrees as she takes a piece of Alison's blonde hair and wraps it once around her curling iron barrel, "Does Emily have a window we can sneak up to so we can see all of this into action? I **_**desperately **_**want to see how you're going to work this."**

"_**I don't know…**_**" Alison nervously spins her phone in her hands as her heart starts kicking up with the realization she starting to get, "now that this is about to happen, I feel super anxious."**

"**It's okay, babe! It's normal!" Amy mumbles her words of encouragement through the side of her mouth with bobby pins she had placed in-between her tightly closed lips because of the lack of hands she had, "This is new for you so that jittery feeling you have is completely fine." **

**Alison frowns with her eyes trailing down to her regular clothing she still has on, "But….usually when girls wear those things, they have flat and toned stomachs and I-"**

"**Nonononono!" Amy and Miranda harmonize at the same exact time in pure disagreement. This quick and sudden reaction causes Alison to jump a bit at the cutoff.**

"**Look, fuck all that." Miranda waves her hands dismissively as she grabs a brush to blend Alison's makeup, "You have fucking **_**curves**_**. You **_**need **__**curves **_**for these kind of outfits." Miranda stresses, "Besides, your stomach is fine!"**

**Amy nods her head as she takes the bobby pins out of her mouth and pins up Alison's hair, "**_**Alison**_**, you fill that out perfectly. You don't need a washboard stomach to wear it, **_**are you kidding me?**_** If we had to compare me in that vs you, I would look like starving peasant compared to your majesty."**

"**She's right. When we first saw you in it last night, both our mouths hit the floor and rolled away. I can **_**guarantee **__**you**_** that Emily is going to do the same. Probably even drool!"**

"**And if she doesn't, then you leave right then and there because she doesn't deserve you." **

"**But I don't even think she's going to reject you. You know, even though Amy and I wasn't able to interrogate her the way we wanted today, if you care this ****much about her, if you like her **_**this **_**much, Miranda stops blending Alison's face and looks at her with soft and kind eyes to match her heartfelt smile, "Then we give our blessings."**

**Alison pouts her happiness as she genuinely feels her insides light up inside with a warm, melting feeling at just the few words of reassurance, "Thank you." she smiles, "Honestly, thank you for all of this. I've….I've never had friends like you guys. Friends that'll do these things for me."**

"**Of course!" Amy squeals, giving Alison a tight hug from behind, "**_**We love you, Alison**_**."**

"**Buuut….We're still going to grill her later." Miranda goes back into Alison's face, pressing over the imperfections to make the makeup look smoother, "**_**Just saying**_**."**

"**Back to the situation at hand before it got a lil' sentimental in here, let me just say this…" Amy reaches over to Alison's kitchen bar and takes a sip of her Arizona Ice Tea before she goes back to Alison's hair, almost done with more than half, "You could have the most perfect body and buy the most expensive and sexiest lingerie out there but if you just wear it and do nothing with it, you're basically a waste of face at that moment. Lingerie is a type of costume. You've got to actually work it, you know, **_**give it some personality**_**. If it's naughty, be naughty. If it's timid, be timid. But what **_**you**_** have," Amy shakes her head with a chuckle, "nothing about that is coy. It's **_**bold **_**and **_**demanding**_**. So, you're going to have to do some serious soul searching, getting past the shy Alison and become **_**that **_**girl. That girl has people begging to fuck them."**

"**Lingerie are just clothes that are designed to help the girl feel sexy." Miranda adds in as she begins to do Alison's eyebrows, "It's the girl **_**feeling**_** sexy that turns the other person on. So, in actuality, you wearing the lingerie isn't sexy, you _being_ sexy **_**in **_**the lingerie is what's going to cause hard nipples."**

**Alison chuckles as her eyes and her mind drift off from the advice her friends were giving her, "I wasn't always reserved, you know." she informs them with a lingering closed-lipped smile, "I know how to command a room."**

"_**Oh really?" **_**Amy side-eyes Alison curiously from behind, "And where is **_**this**_** Ali that knows how to be dominant?"**

"**She's buried." Alison small smile strains as she makes brief eye-contact with Miranda unintentionally with the brunette so close to her face, "Buried deep within."**

"**Well you need to unbury her." Miranda responds back, not fully catching onto Alison's subtle change in mood as she leans back to look at the brows from a distance before she looks into Alison's eyes again, "**_**Release the animal**_**."**

"**Oh! I have an idea as to how you can approach her when she sees you for the first time." Amy giggles, almost jumping in excitement but stays grounded while she has Alison's hair attached to the hot iron, "Trust me…this one would be **_**good.**_**"**

With Emily's eyes permanently glued to the blonde and her power stance in front of her, she realizes she's hasn't blinked not even once since she's noticed her. And with this, she also noticed how incredibly dry her mouth has gotten all of a sudden. She tries to find the words to express her surprise but with every second passing by, she forgets about 20 words in the English language. And if we're keeping score, Emily has forgotten about 200 core words.

"_Cat's got your tongue?_" Alison cocks her head to the side, causing her long and volumized blonde beach waves to sway with every movement she made. Holding an authoritative posture, Alison's red wine, long, sheer chiffon robe is tied in the front, however, that doesn't stop from showing a sneak peak of what's inside with Alison's leg being showed through the slit. The sheer, black thigh-highs stockings held up by what seems to be an ombre red and black garter belt catches Emily's attention along with the black strapped platform heels she wore.

_Now it's 280 words._

"Ah…..Al…Al-_Alison._" Emily exhales out painfully as she can't believe her eyes. _Alison._ Standing in her room. Wearing lingerie. And not just any lingerie. Lingerie with the whole set up from what she could see: The long robe, the nylons, the heels. All she needed to see was what exactly Alison was wearing underneath and so she could ascend herself into another dimension.

"_Wait._" Alison holds up a finger and turns back around to the dresser, "Before you stay anything, I propose a sit down, yes? I'm really curious about your night so…." she faces the brunette once again except with two glasses being held in her hands, "tell me over a drink? I know you just came from working with nothing but alcohol but, I want to sip on something. You know," Alison sways side to side with the intensity of her eye contact still holding Emily captive, "something that's _smooth going down_."

"Y-y-yes. S-sure." Emily nods her head a little too quickly as she jumps to abide by Alison's wishes, "Whatever you want."

"_Great_." Alison smiles big to Emily's response. She turns to head towards the stairs when she stops and looks at Emily who looked like she couldn't move, "_Come come?_" Alison nods her head in the direction of the steps, awaiting for Emily to join her. Emily nods her head once again and follows behind Alison down the stairs and towards her dim-lighted kitchen like a dependent puppy. With the clicking of Alison's heels sounding off with every step she takes, she is internally surprised by Emily's initial reaction. She knew she was going to like it but she didn't anticipate how much in shock she would be. _Let's have a bit of fun with this, shall we?_

"What would you like to drink?" Emily finds the strength to ask after she was staring hard at Alison's ensemble from behind.

"Well, you know more about cocktails and liquors better than I do." Alison places the two glasses on top of Emily's dining table, pulls out a chair and takes a seat, making sure she got herself comfortable. She surveys Emily walking past her, sliding the glasses into her hands and into the kitchen where she prepares to make a drink of some sort. "Whatever you think is good is fine... I just need something to get my lips _wet._" Alison exaggerates the last few words, rolling them off her tongue suggestively.

Emily instant fumbles with the drinking glasses that she tried to set down on the counter, saving them with her quick reflexes and using her body as a block to prevent them from falling off the edge. Alison silently giggles to herself whereas Emily hangs her head and lets out a deep sigh. _Now is when you want to have butterfingers, Emily? Now?_

Putting together something relatively quick and easy, Emily fills both glasses with ice cubes, pours her bottle of Crown Royal halfway, and tops off the rest with some vanilla coke she still had lingering around within her small home bar. When completed and putting everything away, Emily grabs both glasses, does a quick prayer to herself, and turns back around to a patiently awaiting Alison, ready for Emily to join her.

"So." Alison grips her glass Emily handed to her as she watched Emily sit beside her, bravely turning her chair to fully face Alison, "Tell me about your night."

Catching a glimpse of Alison's outfit up close, Emily's prayer goes out the window along with the 2,000 words she's already depleted out of her head, "I-uhm….I…." Emily tries her hardest to keep her eyes leveled but ends up peeking downwards every few seconds, "we hosted….the party. Private party….private…very private…party."

"_Hm_." Alison takes a small sip of the drink Emily created as she nodded her head, listening to Emily attentively, "You hosted a very private party?"

"_Yes_." Emily breathes out with a hiss as her chest started to heave up and down without her realizing it.

"Did you like it?"

"Yes, I liked it. It was the breast-_best!_" Emily quickly corrects her slipup with the expansion of her eyes meeting Alison's in horror, "It was the _best_."

"Hm." Alison squints her eyes with a subtle smile as she observes Emily hiding behind her drink, taking a rather large swig, "Why was it the best? Explain it to me, I want all the details."

Emily gulps down her mouthful, now feeling anxious and overwhelmed, "Details?"

"_Mhmm_."

"Uhm…. they came in and we uhh….we went and uhm," as Emily continues to attempt to complete a sentence, Alison nods her head, still listening as she slides her hands down her robe and loosens the tie in the front. She casually spreads open the garment to reveal her surprise underneath all while keeping steady eye contact with the brunette. But, as song as Alison's hands began to roam, Emily's eyes diverted with the quickness like a squirrel noticing an acorn. Underneath the red wine, sheer chiffon robe, Alison wore a matching set of red and black lace lingerie to compliment her body. From the ultra-feminine contoured push-up bra, to the lace cheeky panties and garter belt to go with it, Alison carefully watches Emily and her expressions as she persistently tried on with her statement.

"We-we….we served them drinks and f-food. They drank the food and ate the drinks." Emily finally manages to sputter out as her mind sped up to 300 miles per hour upon seeing Alison sexed up in lingerie. Not even realizing what's coming out of her mouth, all Emily can hear is the rapid thumping of her heartbeat along with her inner voice repeating explicit words loud enough that it's overtook her thinking process.

"They did?" Alison questions, genuinely interested in Emily's story, just completely ignoring the fact that she's exposing herself to the hopeless brunette who is ready to implode any second now.

"_Mhmmm_." Emily whimpers as she sucks in her bottom lip, getting lost in every single design of the lace hugging Alison's body. All she could do is imagine her without it and the very thought is tempting Emily to jump up, rip the lingerie off and take Alison to the couch in one quick motion.

"Emily."

"Yes, baby?" Emily whispers, still in her fantasy, daydream-like state.

"Eyes up here." the blonde snaps with command, jerking Emily back to reality.

"Huh?"

"_Eyes_." she motions two fingers up her face so that Emily could follow, "My eyes are right here."

The brunette drifts her large brown eyes up to meet Alison's where, for the first time instead of going into her rapid thoughts, she's actually looked at Alison's eyes and noticed the creation she had done for her in full detail, "Wow…" Emily leans in a bit to get a better look, "Your eyes. It's like they're bluer than usual." Emily stares at her and the smoky bronze eyeshadow she was wearing. She admires the other small touches Alison had put effort into while the blonde simply gazed at her, "Your makeup is flawless, I love it."

"What do you love?"

"The colors. It makes your eyes pop."

"Thank you but tell me more about your work!" Alison pushes on as she takes her glass back into her hand and raises it up to her lips, "It's not every day you get to interact with A-listers."

"I don't wanna talk about work…" Emily complains as she leaned back into her chair and casually allowed her eyes to roam back down to Alison's body. This time to that garter belt attached to her thigh-highs.

"What was that?" Alison cocked her head, curiously at the remark she didn't quite catch.

"I said I bet you taste like dessert. _Uhhh I mean!_" Emily jumps up again at the Freudian slip. She meant to say something else but those were the only words her brain was able to come up with on the spot that rhymed. "Work! _Yes!_ Uhm. It-we had a good time." the words fly out of her mouth as she tried to redeem herself for the second time, "Everyone was happy and generous and happy."

Alison side-eyes Emily with a leering face as she went for another sip of her drink, "_Uh huh_…."

"Ok, look, I can't." Emily sighs out, giving up with the surrendering of her hands as she pushes herself out of her chair, "Work isn't that important. It has never been that important and it _certain_ isn't right now."

Alison sets down her drink and gets out of her chair as well, leaving her robe open with no desire to close it, "Then what is important?"

"You. You are important."

"I am?"

"Of course." Emily takes a small step towards Alison, "Everything about you is important. And _This._" Emily reaches for Alison's hand and slowly turns her around in a circle so she can see everything, taking in the beauty and effort Alison put into getting dressed for her,_ "_God….._damn_. _This_ is what's really important."

Alison softly smiles as she came back in a complete turn and intertwined her hand with Emily's, "I did it all for you."

Emily pulls Alison closer into her, bringing her voice down as she leaned into the blonde, "And for that, I thank you..." she presses her lips against Alison's for a moment before she separates, muttering her compliments into their kiss, "Fuck, you're so sexy."

"You make me feel sexy." Alison whispers back with her eyes closed, allowing this moment to begin circulating after all that time of teasing.

"I do?"

"Every day." Alison's lips brush against Emily's before she opened and closed down on the brunette's top lip. With Emily's nipples already hardening and becoming visible through her t-shirt, she takes this golden opportunity to take her idle hand and snake it inside Alison's robe, sliding towards the back and gripping her ass that was mostly flesh with her thumb caressing over her lace panties. From the squeeze, Alison whimpers into Emily's mouth at the same time Emily's tongue glided against hers. Before the kiss progressed to anything more, Alison steps back away from Emily, rendering a bit of confusion out of her.

Teasingly with a nail bite, Alison nods her head in the direction of Emily's room, "Come upstairs with me."

"Okay." Emily smiles as she reaches for Alison hand and allowed her to lead her to her bedroom, with heels still clicking and all.

…...

Alison's hands rubbed up Emily's chest, passing by her erect nipples as she trailed up to Emily's neck while Emily's hands caressed Alison's bare sides as they both began to get lost within their passionate kiss that started building within seconds of reaching Emily's room. Bringing her body as close as she can with her hands on her hips, Emily's lips travel past Alison's neck, down to her exposed chest that's she been waiting to get to since she saw her. Emily leans and places succulent kisses in the middle of her chest, causing Alison to arch her back and softly grip Emily's silky dark brown hair in the process. Almost feeling like a beast was minutes away from unleashing within the brunette, both of Emily's hands drop down to cup Alison's ass as she begins licking and sucking the exposed skin of Alison's breasts within her bra. With the moment getting closer and closer, Alison's heartbeat begins racing to the point she was almost certain that Emily could hear it from where she's at. Her hands leave her hair and lifts up Emily's face mid kiss so she could see her.

"Emily…." she talks lowly as she looked into Emily's eyes, the same eyes that started to gain a small twinkle of hunger in them, "I want this to be the opposite of last time." Alison's words diminished the twinkle and had Emily's face soften as she took in what she had just said. Emily nods, understandably but, deep within, Emily's restlessness kicked in. Being so wasted the first/last time they had sex, Emily hardly remembers the details of what happened let alone the pacing of their acts.

"Yes, of course. Whatever you want, Alison."

Alison continues to stare at Emily with her usual innocent look making its way back onto her face, "I wanna go slow tonight."

Emily's face brightens with happiness. Although, she very much so liked the dominant Alison that took control and knew how to work her, in the back of her mind, she wondered how long Alison would be able to up keep the act before the timid and small Alison that she had grown used to came back. And in this moment, she's glad that she came out now to tell her what she really wanted.

"I….I…."

"What, baby? You what?" Emily asks, wondering where the sudden hesitation came from as she brought her hands back up to her hips. Feeling nervous, Alison turns her face away to look down at the floor. "_Alison_," Emily gently nudged her, trying to remind her that it was just her and that she could say whatever was on her mind, "you can tell me anything. What's wrong?"

"I want…." Alison's voice trails off, trying to find herself before she raised her head up again to look Emily right in her eyes, willingly, "….I want you to make love to me." she finally lets out as she starts to feel at ease in Emily's eyes, "I want to know what it feels like….Can you do that for me?"

With her smile growing bigger, Emily leans forward until both their foreheads were touching as she started rubbing Alison's hips in a small curricular motion with the tips of her fingers, "I will do that and more for you. Tonight is all about you." she whispered softly, wanting Alison to not only feel her but understand her as well, "You don't even have to do anything, _okay?_"

"_But I want to please you too_." Alison quietly whines with a small pout and wilted eyes as she tugs on the end of Emily's shirt.

Apart from getting incredibly turned on more than she was before, Emily masks her inner-feelings with a chuckle as she looks down at Alison's hands fiddling with her shirt, gradually making her finger disappear underneath, "You're pleasing me by letting me please _you_. That's all I need. I don't want you to worry about anything. _Just relax._ Okay?"

"_Okay_."

"Do you trust me?" Emily asks as her hands moved up from Alison's hips, slowly to her shoulders.

Alison nods her forehead against Emily's, biting the corner of her bottom lip as she looked into her eyes, "I trust you."

Emily's hands gently slide Alison's robe from her shoulders, pulling them down her arms to strip her. Completely disrobing her, Emily drops the garment on the floor as she kept her eyes low to the ground. Having Alison stand half naked in front of her with some elements that still had to be taken off, Emily climbs down Alison's body until she got to her feet. She began to unbuckle the straps of Alison's heels for a few moments before she pulled the platforms off each foot, putting the heels to the side where they won't be bothered. Still at Alison's feet, stroking the sheer stockings covering her legs, Emily glances up at the blonde who stared back down at her, neither of them saying a word but feeling everything at the same time. Emily works her way back up, placing a small kiss on her stomach all the way to underneath her bra before her hands grabs Alison's sides and lifts her up onto her body effortlessly. Alison quickly fell into place with her legs hooked around Emily's hips, her feet snaking around the back of Emily's thighs and her arms around her neck, however, they don't go in for a kiss. Captivated in such a quiet and intimate moment together, Alison gazes hopelessly into Emily's eyes, looking right into her soul as Emily walked her towards her bed. The brunette flexes as she holds Alison up with one arm and uses the other to rip off the covers she had laid out, exposing her black sheets. With Alison clinging so tightly onto her, when Emily removes her other arm from holding her up, Alison still hung upright as Emily cradled the back of her head and slowly lowered her down into the mattress with her on top. She begins to kiss Alison again, tenderly sliding her tongue into her mouth with her hands on both side of her head. Alison reciprocates the kiss as she allows Emily inside before sealed her lips in-between hers. Emily goes to kiss her again when Alison's hands raise up to Emily's face, stopping her from getting any closer. Alison's warm fingers move smoothly on Emily's lower face, feeling her lips and around her mouth for no particularly reason. Gazing down at Alison who seemed absorbed with touching her, Emily allows it with no protest. The two stayed completely silent as Alison worked her hands up Emily's face, caressing her bone structure, her cheeks, and around her eyes, all the way up to her hair that draped over them. Her small fingers run themselves through Emily's scalp as she smooths her hair back, just _feeling._

Alison's eyes wander and meet Emily's as the brunette stares at her with a love-struck like gaze. They stare into each other's eyes with such intensity, with such connection, that they both felt the same thing at the same time without having to verify it with each other.

Everything is okay.

There was nothing to hide anymore.

_They are now one._

**Let me give you a minute to breathe, okay?**

…**.**

…**.**

…**.**

**How are you feeling? Are you still here with me?**

**Quite a few thangs happened in this chapter. Quite a few **_**thangs. **_

**Now, I normally break down the just of what happened but you know what, I'm going to leave that to **_**you. **_**Yeeees, **_**you. **_**What are the things you noticed? The obvious things? The not so obvious things? The hidden things? Your feels? Tell me it allllll.**

**Last chapter you guys were writing some good, insightful reviews for what you thought was happening. And guess what? I want that _again._ Seriously, don't be afraid to analyze the chapter by writing a paragraph or two... or three if you have a lot to say. I know soooome of you guys, I won't point any fingers but soooome of you guys hold back. Well, don't! **

**TELL ME EVERYTHING. Honestly, it's really fun to read :D**

**I shall say this though, a good support system goes a looooooong way for people. Also, when Alison was dressing Emily for her job, I threw in Alison's old personality that we used to see in the flashbacks of the earlier seasons. The **_**"look, honey, I know just the thing. Trust me. I know what's good for you" **_**spunk that Ali used to have in her. Did you catch that? Did ya?**

**Things are heating up with Alison opening up and their re-do finally coming to the light! But the bedroom won't be the only things heating up as this 1****st**** book of Trouvaille gradually comes to an end...**

**Review and share, my loves! Share the goodness of Emison that we might not get on the show (because I trust the words of the writers zero).**


	28. Chapter 28: Heal (Hand on My Heart)

**Ooooooooh, guess who updated their fic cover for Trouvaille? And guess who updated most of their other fic covers? I diiiid. I had to make them look more professional so you guys would take me seriously :P**

**But alright guys, your buddy AM has been going into overdrive for you sweet human beings. With finals finished breathing down my back (I had a 120 questioned closed book exam -and that's just one of them- and few long term papers due), I had to figured out a way to slide in writing this chapter for you guys. **

**As I said prior, this book is soon ending. And when I mean soon, I mean in 4 chapters after this one. So that would put us at Chapter 32 being the book's final chapter (if I don't end up splitting up the chapters). I have two stories, this one and my Sparia fic, _Different Gazes_ (Slow burn college dorm Sparia ftw!) that are both ending within chapters so for right now, pushing them out and finishing them are my main priority above any other stories. I was going to update this chapter earlier, I promise you I was. However, I decided to _heavily _revise and add extra sections that wasn't in the final draft. This chapter was going in a totally different direction than the version you're about to read but I think this way is better. If I didn't switch up things last moment, this story would be ending in 3 chapters instead of 4. We'll see how you take to it.**

**Now, when Trouvaille ends, I will publish yet another Emison story. Yes, **_**another**_** one. Geez, I should just stop, right? Too much Emison! But with my new publishing, I have two stories that are a possibility of being born. And I can't make up my mind so I'm going to give YOU (yes, you!) the opportunity to tell me which one you would rather read. I will give you guys a summary and an random excerpt from both and from there, you're gonna tell me who is the winner. But we're gonna get into that a bit later.**

**So, of course I watched the season 6 finale…..**

**and…..**

**You know what? There's this new show that also plays on Tuesdays an hour after PLL finishes, it's called American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. GREAT SHOW. Honestly 5/5 stars. With the all-star cast lineup, from the visuals to the actual storytelling, every episode has me dropping my jaw at some point during that hour. I don't even touch my phone while it's on, it's that good. I have to pay attention to every single detail they say because if you miss one thing, you will miss a big part of the puzzle. After already knowing what's going to happen because of history, the small details of the show **_**still **_**has you captivated as if you're learning everything for the first time and it is riveting! I highly recommend!**

**Oh what were we talking about again….? The PLL finale? Oh yeah so uhm no. Just no to everything and everyone. There is literally a 98% chance I'm not even going to watch Season 7. I have better things to do with my life like watch my dog kick in his sleep and wave to my neighbors who never wave back to me.**

**Why won't you guys wave back to me? **_**We've been neighbors for three years!**_

CHAPTER #28: Heal (Hand on My Heart)

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Emily allows Alison's fingers to glide back down her face, resting particularly on the sides of her face. Her warm touch elicits soft shivers cascading up and down Emily's spine. She stares down at her, admiring her admiration in a position they've never experienced before. Granted, there is one thing Emily has caught on within the past minute with it growing apparent in the seconds passing by: _Alison likes her cheekbones_. She hasn't said it but Emily can tell. With her sudden halt in exploring the rest of her face, Alison has been stroking her cheeks with inquiring eyes. Almost like an archaeologist finding an artifact, dusting it lightly with just the mere flick of her wrist to preserve the beauty and the rarity of the ancient piece that she dare not destroy. Examining the structure in the process of doing so, asking herself _how does the hands of God create such a beautiful piece as like the one in my hands?_ Well, that's like asking an artist how were they able to create their masterpiece. Because that's what Alison had in her hands. A masterpiece. _Her face is of the creations of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Leonardo da Vinci_….Alison thought to herself as she laid under the brunette. _So well defined and cut, she looks like a walking sculpture straight out of Florence, Italy._

As Alison takes on her wonder, Emily does the same as well with her eyes roaming every aspect of Alison's face, finding her own favorite part of the blonde. Slowly bending into her, causing Alison to ready into position for a kiss, Emily bypasses Alison's lips and places a soft peck on the tip of her nose. This small gesture gains a small, shy giggle out of Alison and a childlike grin out of Emily. She couldn't help herself,_ she likes Alison's button nose._ After a brief moment of gazing at each other's lips in silence, they both slowly lean in to feel their lips pressed against one another. Emily was soft and gentle; she made sure to be. As her full lips were pursed against a pair of smooth and tender ones, Alison felt Emily's tongue slide slowly into her mouth. There was no demand in the kiss, no sense of urgency. It felt like love should feel like: delicate, warm, soothing, and giving. And with that, she felt herself gradually melting into Emily's sheets.

She knew Emily had showered before she came back. Finding it somewhat funny because before she got herself dressed up, Alison had showered as well just to be completely ready for what's to come. Being underneath her, Alison caught Emily's feminine scent mixed with the soap she washed with, leaving a very pleasant, light, and clean smell lingering on her skin. The effect of her was intoxicating. Something she hadn't felt in a very long time was stirring inside her, making her a bit shocked that she's even allowing herself to get this far.

Emily breaks the kiss and nuzzles her face into Alison's neck, kissing her chin and jawline on her way there and begins working herself in that secluded area. Planting soft and passionate kisses, using her tongue to massage, Emily kissed her way down Alison's neck, tasting her skin, pressing her lips to the stimulating hot spots Alison had almost forgotten she had. Because of the attention Emily was giving exclusively to her, Alison's body responded. She gradually began to writhe under her kisses, arching, sighing and getting unbelievably turned on. She'd always imagined what it would be like to get to this point with Emily, let alone another girl, but in her wildest imagination she had never thought that it would feel so excruciatingly erotic. By the time Emily's lips got to her collar bone, sounds were escaping Alison's lips that sounded strange to her own ears. With one hand holding the blonde's side, Emily uses her other free hand to roam onto any territory of her choosing. Alison's little ensemble allowed her a few different options of places she can explore and Emily intended on visiting all of them. All in due time, however. Nipping on the base of Alison's neck, Emily's right hand slides up Alison's stomach, reaching the bottom of her chest underneath her red and black lacy bra. The brunette lifts up her head to meet Alison's closed eyes, still reeling in from her touches.

"_Can I take this off?_"Emily whispers, staring down at the blonde, waiting for her approval.

Alison opened her eyes upon hearing Emily's voice, seeing the dark ecstasy in her eyes as she hovered on top of her. She glances down at Emily's fingers, rhythmically tapping gently on the exposed skin. Keeping her sights downward, Alison nods her head slowly before she looked back into Emily's eyes.

"_Yes._"

Alison's heart begins thumping firmer than before as she watches Emily's steady hand rise up her chest towards the hook located in the middle of her bra. What they were doing a few seconds ago didn't differ from the other occasions they've found themselves in prior in their relationship but Emily unhooking her bra was the gate to the other side. The line drawn, for her, in-between their casual make outs and the personal, intimate moment was the undressing. She's never been shirtless around Emily so the moment the bra –and other garments- comes off and exposes her, it will be a whole new dimension in their relationship. There is no turning back so if she wanted to stop, she better do it right now.

Emily unlatches the hook of the bra effortlessly with just three fingers, popping the fabric apart still covering Alison's breasts. Although Alison lays there anxiously as if she was about to lose her virginity all over again, Emily holds a calm and collected exterior with her internal feelings being twice as nervous. Her job was to breeze Alison through this as painless and comforting as she can without letting her down in any kind of way. That put the pressure on her a whole lot just coming to grips with it. Plus, she's hasn't had sex in an unfortunate long amount of time so part of herself is not only questioning if she still had it in her but to do everything she can within herself to have _self-control_. The last thing she wanted was to get _too_ into it and rev up like a NASCAR driver while Alison is still on training wheels with a helmet, knee and arm pads.

Emily slides the padding off to the side of Alison's right breast, revealing the rounded flesh to her eyes for the first time that she would actually be able to remember. She watches Alison's chest heave up and down with every breath she took, the blonde attentively watching her watching her chest. Before any negative thoughts of self-doubt could plague Alison's mind, Emily leans back down; using her tongue to trace a circle around her areola before she consumed it into her warm mouth. Alison eyes close involuntarily as her body arches to Emily's mouth, gracefully letting out a slow exhale escape her throat. And with that light moan, she's released a piece of herself, a fragment of her fears into the darkness of the room.

….

With their tongues still enmeshed, they were gently biting the others' lips as Emily unties the twine from Alison's garner belt, unlatching her sheer stockings being held up by them in the process. Alison runs her hands through the back of Emily's hair, gently gripping her roots as she rested her arms around her neck. She was able to feel a bit more comfortable with herself and, with her upper lingerie ensemble off and tossed to the floor, Alison didn't feel as shaky as she was when they first started. Getting a taste for the appetizer, it was visibly apparent that it was soon time for the main course. Emily knew this. Alison knew this. Now, it was up in the air to see how this all was going to be handled.

Letting the tips of her fingers glide down Alison's stomach, down to her navel, Emily allows her fingers to trace the waistband of the cheeky panties Alison wore for her. She leaned into her chest again, enclosing her teeth around her erect nipple, lightly pinching and pulling it, listening to her moans to encourage what she likes or wants more of. Her fingers trail past Alison's waistband and are now getting to the sensitive region that she's been anticipating to get to all night. She began rubbing her fingers along the center of her lingerie. Almost immediately, she felt some moisture against the fabric. After getting Alison's nipple as stiff as it will, she flicks her tongue rapidly over it, then presses her lips around it and begin to suck. As she nursed on Alison's breast, she continues to let her fingers lightly stroke in-between her legs through the lace. When she felt the moisture increasing due to her movements, she picked up her speed just a tiny bit so her fingers could travel a little faster. Then, bowing over, she releases the blonde's nipple out of her mouth and moves to her left breast to give it the same treatment. After sucking on it and getting it nice and erect, Emily blows a cold stream of air against it. These few actions cause Alison's breathing to pick up again, moaning between every breath.

The brunette glances down Alison's body for a moment before she rises up and climbs down her, parting her legs open so she could take a kneel in the middle of them. In front of her, there she was; Alison, laying with baited breaths, awaiting Emily's approval of what she had to offer. The moonlight cascading through Emily's single window illuminated her slender frame coupled with sensuous curves, causing a tremor of sheer anticipation to run through Emily's skin. The way her blonde hair gently caressed the nape of her delicate neck evoked stimulating images of gripping her hair in the most erotic positions; controlling her from behind as she whispered into her ear. Her voluptuous breasts, peaked with perky round buds which so willingly offered themselves to be tended to; the smooth transition of her small waist into the flare of womanly hips coupled with elegant legs. Emily felt her hands tremble slightly as she reached for Alison's garner belt and slowly slid it off her hips, down her legs and off her body, leaving Alison in nothing but her cheekys and stockings. Just then, Emily realized how Alison was half naked while she was still fully clothed. Without another second's notice, Emily lifts off her superman tee over her head and tosses it to the floor to uncover her bare chest, just so she and Alison can somewhat be on the same level of nakedness.

This quick movement surprised Alison, making the moment a bit surreal. Everything they did was pushing them closer and closer to the edge, pushing them to the point of no return. Yes, she's went this far with other people before but none of them has been on the level of her and Emily's right now: the excited nerves, the feeling of jumping out of your skin yet wanting nothing more than to be touched. Her eyes are glued to the brunette in front of her, admiring her gorgeous body fully. She is tanned all over; not a single inch of pale skin anywhere. Her breasts are the perfect size, her nipples upturned. Her muscle definition is amazing; not bulging, but taut and sleek, with every movement causing them to show delightfully. Her stomach is absolutely flat, with a hint of definition just to prove that her hard workouts and training for swimming did her body well. Although though her observations, she noticed a bit of what seemed to be hesitation from Emily. Emily stared at her body as if she saw something and with that –along with her eyes caught in a trance to accompany her lost appearance- Alison's reality comes back to her and creates a small form of paranoia.

Emily loses herself gazing at Alison's body without even realizing it. As she took in everything that was about to transpire, a few thoughts swam into her mind simultaneously. It dawned on her how long it's been since she's actually had sex. How long it's been since she went down on someone. _She's actually going to do this. _After all of this time of pent up sexual frustration, this was the moment she's been waiting for. And it couldn't have been with a more perfect person. This thought left her in a bit of an awe for longer than she's anticipated.

"_Emily_…"

Emily fully allows herself to disappear, losing all control of herself as a darker, more lustful Emily takes her place. Catching the subtle change, Alison witnesses the desire deepen the second before Emily reached for her one of her legs, lifting it in the air up to her eye-level. During the long and deliberately drawn out moment, Alison slightly wiggled with half readiness and half nerves as Emily grabbed for the top of her lace and began to ever-so-slowly pull them down over her hips, all while kissing her calves through the sheer fabric of her stockings. She moved her mouth slowly down her legs, licking her way down, kissing the sensitive places behind her knees as the panties came off and were added to the pile of tossed clothing. Just because she felt greedy, Emily wasted no time to pull of Alison's nylons as well. She wanted the blonde to be completely bare. Alison felt as if she would faint when Emily spread her legs and placed her tongue on her inner thigh. The shock of instant electricity flowed through her and all she could do was bite her lower lip to stifle the sounds coming out. Emily brushes the tip of her two fingers over her exposed center as she placed a long kiss on another various part of her legs, causing Alison to shiver. Pushing her thighs further apart, Emily bowed her head low with her body following and finally touched the tip of her tongue to Alison's swollen lips, tasting the wetness that was beginning to drip from her. Every nerve ending in Alison's body felt alive with exhilaration. She was _tense_, _aroused_, _and nervous_ all at the same time. She didn't know what to do with her hands so she gripped the sheets tightly and held on for dear life for the ride she was about to go on. Her flavor is sweet, innocent, and still so fresh; literally like a nectar. Her juices flows easily and copiously onto Emily's tongue as the stifled moaning becomes harder to control on Alison's end. Just there for a brief moment, the brunette removes herself from in-between Alison's legs, licking her lips as she went back to sitting up-right. Alison let out a long hiss with the departure of Emily's mouth, feeling herself heavily breathing as if she just ran a mile and collapsed on the bed. She wonders to herself why Emily pulled away but her thoughts weren't able to pick a steady enough track to even formulate the suspicion.

In a clouded haze of craving, Emily gently parted the soft, pink folds of flesh that enveloped all that made Alison a woman and peered. It was as if Emily was making love to Alison's body with her eyes, barely even touching it but just gazing, taking everything in in a way no one had ever done before. Her eyes glaze over to other parts of Alison, amazed at how stunning she looks completely naked and vulnerable. Almost imperceptibly, she took her finger and gently caressed Alison's clit. In that moment, she found her spot so intentionally, so effortlessly, Alison had never been touched as softly as she was being handled. She arched her back at the gentle contact and let out a low cry; her breathing was short and raspy. The sensation lingered on, collecting potency as Emily's fingertips explored further, softly touching and grazing her. After a few more seconds of feeling around, beginning to feel herself thrive off of Alison's moaning, Emily replaced her fingertips with her tongue and began to lick again, softly. Alison's attempt at creating words were now incredibly challenging as everything came out incoherent, speaking the language of supreme ecstasy.

She licked her lips, first the outer ones, making Alison ache with want, and then dipping into the inner ones, gently prying them open. Emily built the blonde up slowly. She was determined to take her time, to bring Alison to the brink just to give her the most pleasurable orgasm possible. Alison lets go of Emily's sheet from her now clenching grip and placed one hand hovering around her naval, almost as if she wanted to do something but had second thoughts. As Emily continued to swim her tongue around, carefully listening to the pacing of Alison's breathing, her large brown eyes peeks upwards to look at how Alison is visibly responding to her modes of pleasing. Noticing not only but her closed eyes, stretched out neck, and sucked in bottom lip, Emily also catches the idle hand that seemed to have no place to go. She extended one of her arms, grabbing Alison's indecisive hand and positioned it on the top of her head before she reaches for the other one, placing it on her head as well. This way, Alison could complete control where she wanted Emily to be. _This was no time to be shy. Not right now._

Alison creeps her fingers into the waves of the dark brown strands her found herself lost in, holding her head and rocking gently to feel all of her tongue against her. Alison's hips began a steady pace of writhing as she could hear the sound of Emily's tongue working on her, driving her higher and higher into that plane of pleasure she came to be acquainted with. Emily tasted every inch of Alison's wet slit, she sucked where she was supposed to and licked in just the right spots as she slid her tongue down the length of her lips. Emily trails up to trace over her exposed clit, loving the sounds and moisture that was coming from her body as she slides two fingers over Alison's opening and slowly pushed them inside, curling them up to rub over her g-spot.

The moans were much louder than before, actually picking up in a more constant frequency while Emily picked up on the speed of her fingers pumping in and out of her, flicking her tongue over her clit and sucking on it persistently, causing it to swell up even more. All during this, the brunette was getting extremely turned on by every increasingly louder moan, causing her own moan to escape from her lips. This created a small vibration against Alison's already sensitive nerves which sent shakes all throughout her legs, making her physically weak. With Emily's fingers finding her elusive G-spot along with the stroking patterns, Alison hazily realizes that her climax will be coming sooner than she thought. _Really soon. _Alison's hold on Emily's head becomes tighter as she felt her stomach stirring deep within her. Every nerve in Alison's hands, the skin in-between her fingers, the tips of the fingers itself tingled immensely.

"_Em_…" Alison panted out, breathlessly, with her eyes shut tightly and legs beginning to lock up, "_Emi…Em, I…_"

"_Let go, baby._" Emily whispers with a slight smirk, wrapping her arm around Alison's thighs to hold her in place as she enhanced her oral movements, flattening out her tongue as her fingers continued to thrust themselves in and out of her body.

_It was then when Alison braced herself for the most intense orgasm of her entire life. _

As Emily continued her performance, she kept her eyes trained upwards so she can witness this moment first hand. Alison turns her head to the side, pressing the side of her hand against her upper lip as she furrowed her eyebrows in complete concentration of what she was feeling. It started at the core of her body and rushed through her arms and legs, then came crashing back into the center of her being like a lightning bolt. There was an overpowering white light that washed over her, blinding her with its sheer power. Her hands and feet went numb and she felt everything explode in frenzy. Alison's body was contracting and releasing so fast that she almost couldn't breathe. When she actually climaxed, she came without a thought, nothing but pleasure blasting her mind and pulling every nerve to a silently screaming strain. Alison cries out as she peaks, _but it's so intense_, so overwhelming that nothing comes out but an extended, strangled gasp.

Emily could feel Alison's walls spasm on her fingers, enchanting tight clenches like a velvet fist, as an warm explosion coated over her. She slurped the copious juices from the blonde's first orgasm and from there down her throat. She kisses her long and adoringly, causing her lips to splay as she presses her mouth deeper. The immediate warm contact of Emily's mouth caused Alison to jump back a little bit with a small muffled yelp.

"_Fuuuuuuuuck!_" she cried out in a shaky breath as all the sensations hit her all at once. Her orgasm reaches the point where it's was simply too much for longer than she expected; the pressure in her head and behind her eyes, the oversensitive feelings all throughout her lower half, they all tell Alison that Emily has to stop or I'll else she'll pass out. After a few seconds, as the devastating climax ebbs a bit, Alison was finally able form words; hissed, gasping words.

"_S-st-stop!_"

Emily halts all movement and lifts her head up to meet Alison's closed eyes and strained face as she tries to control her breathing, "Stop?"

Alison takes a moment for herself, trying to regain total awareness of where she was and what was going on as the white light haze started to leave her. "_No_." she huffed out, finally opening her eyes to see Emily awaiting for further instructions, "_I….keep…don't….y-y..." _Emily lays there confused, fidgeting her head either which way to try to understand what direction Alison wanted her to go. Alison tries to understand what she wanted as well with her stuttering words and conflicting thoughts.

"_Come here, come here._" Alison finally blurts out quickly, frantically waving Emily to her.

Emily swiftly climbed up Alison's body, just for her face to be grabbed in Alison's hands and brought down for a feverish kiss. The brunette lets her taste herself as Alison sucked Emily tongue ravishingly, pulling it out of her mouth and slipping her lips over it. She felt out of control. Her hands ran down Emily's hot cheeks, down her neck, and onto Emily's body now, begging to be held, to be touched. She felt uninhibited, unrestrained by the fears and apprehensions she previously possessed. Then and there, it was about feeling good: nothing more, nothing less. They kiss for what seemed like a long time, tongues dancing, saliva flowing from mouth to mouth, and Alison's hand caressing the skin of Emily, enjoying the feel of her slim, well-muscled body; stroking her firm breasts and rigid nipples. She used this time to regain to her senses from the immense, overpowered shock she just endured. But throughout this whole time, she had the weirdest combination of emotions. She wanted to prologue this experience as long as she could and she was going to do anything and everything she could to do it.

Alison's hand bypass Emily's breasts, travels down her stomach, and before Emily knew it, Alison's fingers slipped past the brim of her shorts and skimmed down over her baby soft mound. She brushed her fingers over her soft lips for the first time, tracing a single fingertip over her opening with the brunette's apparent wetness, causing her fingers to slide back and forth quite easily. Emily instantly tenses up, surprised at what Alison is doing to her. She told Alison prior to basically lay back and relax while she works to woo her but with Alison's sudden change of control, she didn't know what to do but freeze and stare at the blonde. Now, Alison has never gotten this far in terms of intimacy before but, just doing what she Emily did to her, Alison improvises to the best of her ability, listening to Emily's breathing as a source of feedback.

The soft touch of Alison's fingers disappeared into her shorts, prompting Emily to increasing in her breathing. This has been the first time in a long time that Emily has been touched by anyone in that way. Ever since the split from her ex, Emily didn't have any ambition to chase after girls when she had swimming, her academics, and not to mention her scholarship on the line. She focused on classes and left relationships a blast in the past until she found that _one _girl who was worth the time. After a few moments of a literal brain freeze, while Alison's fingers were cruising up and down the inner part of her erogenous region, Emily pulls down her shorts, trying her best to take them off as quick as possible without disrupting much of Alison's strokes. Bundled at her ankles, Emily kicks them off, sending them flying to the floor to leave her and Alison naked together as one.

Being on the other side of the fondling hand, Alison was initially struck by how fleshy it was; soft with lots of folds. The blonde reached up to kiss Emily's parted open mouth as she fingered her swollen clit, rubbing it between her fingers. Emily moaned softly, and spread her legs wider from this.

"_Ali_…" she inhales deeply with her breathing quickening.

"Is this okay?" Alison asks innocently as her eyes scan all over Emily's face, reading her closed eyes and fixed look as a potentially good sign. She uses her free hand to grab onto the back of Emily's neck and began to kiss up her neck from under her chin to her ears to nibbling the ear-lobe. All of this just entice more soft moans from Emily.

"_Yes_." Emily manages to whimper out as she feels Alison's lips and tongue running up and down her skin, "Just like that…" she directs in such a musical voice: low, sexy, and intimate as she whispers.

Alison's fingers gently delving between her legs, parting and stroking along the wet channel, feeling Emily's twitch as she touched her now very sensitive parts. Moaning while she stroked her, the urgency goes from gradually to hurriedly in term of Emily's building to her big moment when Alison begins sucking on the warm and tanned neck that Emily had extended out. Emily feels overwhelmed from all the attention that her body -that she had hovering above Alison- started trembling as she tried to hold herself up. The fingers that were once focused on one part of Emily's center trailed themselves downward, making Alison's stretch a bit lower to the point she was able to feel the brunette's slick lips. She took her middle finger and drew over the folds slowly before she pushed through and dipped her two finger inside of her, just as how Emily did to her. Emily threw her head down by the side of Alison's head, burring her face next to the blonde's ear as her quiet moans grew louder and louder with the unsteady cry out that was escaping her mouth. Hearing Emily whining in her ear while she felt herself inside her undeniably opened Alison's eyes as to why people love sex so much; how someone could get so aroused by pleasing someone else. The brunette was wet and well lubricated which allowed Alison to move rhythmically in and out her, her thumb finding itself rotating on her clit.

All of this stimulation pushes Emily to the brink as she holds her breath, already knowing her time has come and that she couldn't hang on any longer. She weakly lifts her head to look at Alison, to look into her enticing blue eyes through the darkness of her room. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long when she flickers her eyes closed and throws her head back, letting out a sudden gasp before she collapsed her defenseless, hot-temperatured body on top of Alison's.

"_Shiiiiiiit!"_ Emily whimpered into Alison's ear as she loses control of her body. Wave after wave of heatless burning surges through Emily. She can't grasp the sheets under her hard enough, can't thrust her hips fast enough to get Alison's fingers as deep inside her as she greedily desire. Distantly, she can hear the wet squishing of the blonde's fingers stroking against her walls. Her breathy whimpers, feeling her breasts bouncing against Alison through the the sore rigidity of her muscles. This girl had dragged new sensations from her and she was riding them on cloud nine. The commanding orgasm lasts for what feels like an eternity, yet nowhere near long enough for Emily. Her body heaves in hard and shallow breaths against Alison's body, trying to salvage herself from the moment she just experienced. She feels Alison slide out of her, only for her hands to be holding onto her bare sides. With her face already nuzzled into the blonde's neck, Emily places a few sweet kisses there, wanting to show the gratitude she felt for such a divine encounter. She lifts her head up with a lazy smile when her expression changed drastically upon seeing Alison's face.

"_Hey! _Are you okay?" Emily asks with all her previous thoughts she just conceived flying down the stairs and out the door. Alison sucks in her lip, nodding her head rather quickly as she stares back at Emily with her eyes filled to the brim with tears, one by one falling down her cheeks. Without thought, Emily raises her hands up to Alison's face, inspecting her to make sure she didn't accidentally head-butt her without her knowledge when she fell on top of her. "Did I hit you? _I'm sorry_."

Alison shakes her head, keeping her eyes glued to Emily's, "No…you didn't hurt me…" her voice cracks as she tried with all of her might to hold everything back. Unfortunately, this emotion was something bigger than her, something out of her control and upon saying her last words, Alison drops her eyes and begins to breakdown with soft sobs.

"_Noooo_." Emily worriedly sings out, shifting her weight as she wipes the upcoming assault of tears running down Alison's face, "Nonono, Ali, look at me." Emily rises Alison's chin towards her, although Alison's eyes still hung low, "_Alison, look at me._" she gently pushed again, lightly shaking Alison's face until the blonde raised her droopy, blue teary eyes to meet her wide, concern brown ones, "What's the matter?"

Alison shakes her head once again, pushing Emily's hand away from her as she sucked in a great deal of air, "It's nothing. I promise."

"Alison, tell me."

"_I'm sorry_." Alison sniffled, wiping her face to try to erase all the tears she pathetically left fall. She pouts her lips with a sigh, averting her eyes once again from Emily's burning gaze, "I just ruined everything. If-if you give me a second, I can go fix myself." before Alison even finished her sentence, Alison attempted to wiggle out from underneath Emily to head to the bathroom when Emily lays her back into the mattress, not allowing her to run from her.

"_Baby…_talk to me_, please._" Emily begs in a sad frown and brows creased towards the middle of her forehead in distress. She's heard of instances of people crying during sex, but they were mostly of happy tears. Alison's tears, however….they didn't look like they were bouncing in the realm of glee. She tenderly smooths the blonde's hair back away from her face, intending on her continual push until she gets an answer, "Why are you crying?"

"I'm fine." Alison wipes underneath the bottom of her eyes, careful not to smudge her eyeliner, pushing out a smile through it all. She nods her head, rubbing her hands up and down Emily's side as she gazes back up at her, "_I'm fine_." she smiles again, this time letting the smile reach up to her eyes in attempt to prove to Emily that she was okay, "Can…can we keep going, please? I don't want to stop."

Emily stares at Alison for a few long seconds, trying to read her mind somehow before she slowly nodded her head, consenting to Alison's request. "Okay…" she gives the blonde a small smile, giving Alison the cue to reach up and kiss her again. Kissing her to pretend like none of what occurred just happened. And through the kiss, all Emily can think about is what the hell just happened. It was undoubtedly harder for her to go right back into her previous frame of mind when she just witnessed Alison break down into actual tears. The sight of it actually took some of her arousal away just because she couldn't fathom continuing when something was wrong. She tries, however. If Alison didn't want her to stop, then she won't.

…

Flickering her eyes open after a quick moments of shut eye, Emily finds herself cuddling with her arms wrapped around a sleeping Alison. Although she cannot feel her right arm because of it being underneath Alison's body, Emily softly smiles to herself as she takes a soft and silent breath. This night has definitely been a rollercoaster ride of emotions –one that Emily wasn't particularly prepared for- but she's not upset that it happened, honestly. All that it told her is that there are some underlying things that they have yet to discuss and she knew that sooner or later, they were going to have to have a sit down. Feeling Alison's warm and naked body pressed against hers, rising and falling like a light feather with every breath she took, Emily took her time admiring her from behind as she buried herself in her blondes waves. She placed a soft, long kiss on her shoulder blade, lingering her lips there for a few seconds before she slowly pulled herself away from the sleeping beauty. She gently tried to move her arm from underneath Alison, causing her to stir a little bit before becoming still again. Emily slides herself quietly out of the sheets and off her side of the bed until her feet hit the cool carpet. Her joints creaked lightly as she stretched out her naked body. The brunette's eyes glanced around the area of her bed until she found her superman t-shirt and black shorts and slid back into them. Taking a quick glance back at Alison still sound asleep, Emily tip toes over to her nightstand where her phone laid, grabbed it, and silently crept her way down the stairs.

Opening her fridge for something to eat, the only thing she was greeted with was a bright light and shelves with hardly anything on them. A part of her dies when she goes to open up the freezer which, to her dismay, housed nothing as well.

"_Dammit...t_hey really cleaned me out," Emily mumbles to herself, referring to her three friends that came in and wiped her dry; Hanna specifically. With no food in the fridge, grocery shopping have yet to be done because of the lack of money, Emily found herself in a bit of a hard place. Especially since her stomach was rumbling and all she had was cans, some uncooked breakfast food, frozen meat, and alcohol.

_Maybe I can go pick up something….? _Emily ponders as she closes the fridge doors to stand back in the darkness. Hitting her at the same time of what time it was, she knew it wasn't feasible. It was well past three in the morning and there are very limited food locations open at that time for her to even contemplate ordering. Now, if it was just her here, she would peel herself an orange, _munch-munch-munch _and then call it a night. But seeing that she has another person upstairs that might want to eat something at any moment, she can't just throw them a banana and tell them to knock themselves out.

_Well, I could…._

_Times are hard out here on the east coast. _

Emily shakes the cheap version of herself out of her head and unlocks her phone as she reaches for her orange. Out of all the apps she has in her phone -Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and many others- there is one app that she holds dear to her heart and couldn't imagine herself parting with. And if she ever did, then the world has ended as we all knew it.

She browses through her app collections until she comes across _Yelp's Eat24: The Food Delivery _App. The app that can tell her exactly what kind of food is in her area and what time they close. In her instance, she's looking for anyone open at this time that delivers. Hell, she's looking for anyone at this time that is _open_.

Already having her location put into the app, Emily skims through the food restaurants, opening and closing to see the hours of operation of each eatery. For a good five minutes of lurking, Emily was hitting dead ends everywhere. Every food location that looked promising where closed and who could blame them?

Nora's Mexican Grill (11:00am – 10:50pm)

John's Place (8:00am – 9:40pm)

The Wrap Shack (11:00am – 10:30pm)

Pete's Famous Pizza (11:00am – 10:30pm)

His &amp; Her Restaurant &amp; Bar (4:00pm – 4:00am)

"_Oh shit."_ Emily hisses to herself as she finds gold after all of her digging. There was someone out there within the city still open serving! She quickly goes to their serving information to see what kind of food they make, seeing that she's never been to this place before.

_His &amp; Hers Restaurant &amp; Bar_

4/5 stars - 226 reviews

_Pizza, Italian, American, Vegetarian, Middle Eastern, Turkish_

All of a sudden, Emily transforms into an eight year and becomes really excited as a grin spreads across her face with her stomach grumbling in appreciation. The first three words already held her heart and she knew that she had found her match. Her eyes casually glance up at the corner of her screen just for everything to come down at a screeching halt.

_3:48am?!_

With twelve minutes until closing, Emily begins fidgeting with her hands, not knowing what to do. Wasting about 10 seconds glitching, Emily tosses her half-peeled orange and phone on top of her kitchen counter, dusts off her hands, and picks up her phone again to start her thinking process.

_Okokokokokok…Let's check…do they deliver?_

_Yes! They deliver! Good! I can jus-TWENTY DOLLARS FOR DELIVERY MINIMUM?! THEN AN EXTRA FIVE DOLLARS FOR DELIVERY CHARGE PLUS TAX?! WHAT THE HELL?! _

Emily stares at the charges wide-eyed, making sure she's reading it right. Unfortunately, she was.

_I might as well just drive there and pick it up my damn self for free! _Emily scrolls through the menu now slightly annoyed. However, she is grateful that they _are _open so back it is against the clock to put in an order so they can start cooking it before they end up closing the kitchen down. Seeing an abundance of options ranging from chicken to shrimp, Emily quickly makes her thoughtful decisions on behalf of Alison and herself and adds them to her cart for pickup. As she's doing her food shopping, Emily is quickly high-kneeing it back up the stairs without a sound being made from the tips of her toes. She tries to navigate her way in the dark, using her phone screen as a light, to find her wallet and keys, hoping they're not on Alison's side of the room. Thankfully, after some fishing around, Emily finds them rather quickly on her dresser and lifts them up ever so slowly, glancing back at the blonde to see if she wakes up. Successfully holding her keys in the air without gaining any extra movements from Alison, Emily nods her head approvingly, swipes her wallet, and slinks her way back downstairs with everything she needed in hand.

Looking back at her phone, seeing that it was only seven minutes until four, Emily heads towards her front door where her she had a pair of shoes lined up and slipped them on. Halfway through this process she realized what she was doing. She was about to leave with a rather small superman t-shirt (which you can tell that she's wearing no bra on underneath if the wind blows just right), short shorts, post-sex hair that could use a few strokes of a brush, and a pair of Vans. She pauses for a second, thinking to herself if she would want to spend at least two minutes to fix up to look at least somewhat decent.

_Fuck that. I don't have time. Let someone say something to me if they have a problem, _Emily tells herself as she unlocks her front door, running her hands through her hair before she slowly closed it behind her.

…..

In her sleep, Alison stretches out her arm with a small yawn, leaning back to feel Emily's body behind her when she's received by nothing but air instead. A part of her brain wakes up from this sudden realization, making her lean back even farther into space. Alison opens her eyes and turns to look behind her just to see that Emily wasn't there behind her. A small twinge in Alison's stomach kicks up when her eyes trace along the room to see if Emily was anywhere else. When she didn't see her, Alison fully awakened herself from her sleep.

"_Emily?_" Alison calls outs just above a whisper to get the attention of the brunette who may be downstairs for whatever reason. She patiently waits for a response within the dark apartment but it met back with nothing in return. Alison shuffles off to the edge of the side of the bed, covering her nude body with the bed sheets as she waits again, waiting for some kind of noise, sound, or any kind of notification that Emily was nearby.

_Silence._

Alison turns her head around towards Emily's closet, remembering where Emily undressed her from her robe and heels, leaving the garment still on the floor. She pushed herself off the mattress, leaving the sheets behind and quickly skipped over towards the other side of the room to pick up the robe and slip it on to cover her exposed body. She ties the tie in front and looks towards Emily's empty and open bathroom, knowing Emily wasn't in there before she headed towards her stairs to see if she was on the lower level.

"_Emily…_?" Alison softly calls out as she tip toed down the stairs, observing the also dim floor that she couldn't make out much of anything through. With every moment passing by, a sense of dread hits Alison's stomach in a way that she couldn't explain.

_Where did Emily go? _

_Why did she leave?_

_Why did she not wake me to say that she was stepping out?_

All of these questions where rushing through Alison's mind as she tugged on her robe belt. She shuffled her feet towards the large and wide window bringing in the night light of the Philadelphia streets into the living room, looking down at the empty sidewalks and the few cars zooming by at the corner from the height they're located.

_How long has she been gone?_

_What time is it?_

_Did sh-wait…what time is it?_

The sound of metal retracting bounces off the walls, causing Alison to snap her neck in the direction of the front door. Moments later, light from the apartment's hallway seeps into the entryway of Emily's apartment, along with Emily holding several heavy plastic bags in her hands. She pulls her key out of the door lock, trying to make as little noise as possible while, Alison slowly makes her way towards her, the smell of food invading her nostrils powerfully. Closing the door behind her, Emily pops out of her shoes, and walks towards her kitchen, immediately jumping back at the shadowy sight of Alison just standing there in the living room.

"_Gah! Fuck!"_ Emily chokes out, almost tripping on her own two feet. Alison cowers a bit, rubbing her hands nervously as Emily walks over to her kitchen and flicks on the light, illuminating at least half of the downstairs. "_Alison_. You gave me a heart attack with your…._flowy robe_."

"Where did you go?" Alison softly coos like a timid kitten as she stands completely still, tugging on her fingers anxiously.

Emily sighs and sets down the bags on the kitchen counter, pulling the white takeout boxes and placing them out in a line for choosing, "I went to go get some food. This place was the only place that I could find that still open at this time." Crumbling the plastic bags and tossing them to the side, Emily looks over at Alison who still holds her hands, standing as if she was almost too nervous to move. Emily furrows her brows at Alison for a split second before she jerks her head to the side, extending an arm out, "_C'mere_."

Alison slowly wanders in Emily's direction into her side as the brunette's arm snaked around her lower back. Emily gives a small kiss, pressing her full lips against Alison's for a brief second before she pulled away. With her eyes glancing up to Alison's whose eyes were lingering on Emily's lips, Emily follows suit and drops her eyes down to Alison's pouty-like lips. She tilts forward and pecks Alison again, this time keeping their lips connected for a few long seconds before they slowly separated from one another. Upon contact, Alison leans as close as she can against Emily with her arms lazily wrapped around her hips, feeling a sense of security inside her hold. Emily took all of the willpower inside of her to set her sights off Alison and onto the food she had just purchased right in front of them.

"Okay...I got some _wings, _some _chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks,_" Emily turns her head around to look at Alison whose face was just inches away from hers,_ "_you like mozzarella sticks, right?"

"_Mhmm_." Alison nods her head with a small hummed response as she felt Emily's fingers softly create circular motions on top of the fabric rubbing on the bare skin of her hip.

"Well, I got some of _that_. Fries and…." Emily reaches over and lifts the lid of one of the filled boxes, "_shrimp_ _kebab._" she smiles proudly, making Alison smile along with her, "Now, yes, I was eating with my eyes but I don't have anything in the fridge right now sooooo….I just went all out. _Well_, enough before the cook kicked my ass for ordering minutes before they closed." her and the blonde share a small giggle before Emily goes ahead and opens up the lids of each takeout box.

"So go ahead, grab a plate, and get whatever your little heart desires if you're hungry." Emily glances at Alison one more time, swaying lightly, before she let her go and went to grab a plate for herself.

…

Sitting next to each other at the end of Emily's dining table, Emily casually munches on her shrimp as she watches Alison rips a piece of her tenders and dip them in her small side of honey mustard. Her face fidgets a bit, trying to figure out a way to come out and say what she wants to say but not knowing if the timing was right or not. What happened upstairs earlier in the night is something Emily has literally dreamed of. Not to be cliché or anything but she's actually dreamed of that moment. With all of their moments together and her feelings for Alison, there have been more than a handful of times that Emily has found herself lying in her bed late at night, just imagining what their first time would be like. Well…their first time _sober. _Where would they be? Would they be in either or's apartments? Will a moment of weakness come over them and end up surrendering somewhere rather public like what almost happened in the back of her car? What would the pacing be like? Slow at first, gradually getting overwhelmed in complete passion? Slow then becoming faster? Maybe it will stay slow all the way through? Or…maybe they both would take each other by surprise and have this wild hot, passionate sex.

What would she sound like?

What faces would she make?

What would she taste like?

Those were some of the burning questions that would wander around all facets of Emily's brain while she would have those moments of imagining. So already knowing, getting there, almost about to experience it was more than a rush for her. However, hearing that Alison wanted to take it slow and "know what it feels to made love to", just made Emily melt into a puddle of feelings. Everything from that point was _amazing_.

_Incredible._

_Extraordinary._

_Breathtaking. _

_Simply remarkable._

But the crying…

The crying threw her off guard because she didn't know what to think. Was she hurting her? Was there something wrong? And at that very second, when she watched Alison wipe under her eyes, trying not to ruining her makeup that she worked hard to look nice for her, Emily knew it was something inside. Something deeply rooted inside of Alison that made her cry during a time like that. Because she knows Alison won't bring it up due of the potential embarrassment, she knew she had to ask. Just to get the conversation started between them two.

"Alison?"

Alison glimpses up at Emily mid chew, raising her eyebrows innocently at her name being called, "_Hm?_"

With her eyes locked with the blonde, Emily takes a slow, deep breath, ready to just power ball through it. "What happened to you in Rosewood?"

Alison chewing goes from normal speed to gradual and cautious as her eye contact with Emily begins to become uncomfortable. Within a few blinks, bringing her eyes downwards, Alison quickly tries to look for a way out of this conversation before it even started. She knew her crying earlier were going to spark some questions but she had just hoped that Emily would have brushed it off as nervousness or something. However, every time she tried to think of a detour, a small voice rang in between her ears.

_The voice was Emily's._

Alison eyes darted back at Emily's face as she continued to hear the brunette's voice in her head. It was almost surreal because she was staring at her, Emily was staring back, both sitting silently yet….Alison hears Emily's words resonating her in mind as if Emily was communicating to her telepathically. Listening to the words of the vocals, Alison realizes it's not Emily's thoughts she's hearing but a previous statement Emily told her around the time they first started talking.

**"I'm telling you this story because even though it's an anchor on your heart, it makes it a little bit better when you actually talk to someone. Doesn't do a lot but…it allows you a small air bubble to breathe in the black waters you're drowning in."**

**"Alison, I would never push you to talk about anything you don't want to but…I want you to know that you can talk to me at any time when it gets hard to breathe. No matter where I am, what time it is, you can always talk to me. If you need someone to give you an opinion, I'm here. If you need someone not to say anything and just listen, **_**I'm here.**_** I don't want you to bottle up your emotions."**

Not realizing she was creating tension throughout her whole body, Alison relaxes with a cool exhale, resting her back against her chair. "The past happened."

"Do…" Emily rips the tail of her shrimp, trying to ease herself into potentially dangerous waters, "do you mind elaborating a bit?" she cautiously looks up at Alison for a response and it caught with Alison looking past her, going somewhere else then where they were.

"Rosewood…is a median. The divider between my life's before and after…" Alison comments in almost a dry, deadpan voice, "It's just… a lot."

Emily nods her head thoughtfully, not wanting to speak so she can give Alison the direct floor to say whatever she wanted at her pacing. Alison grabs her glass of water, taking a long, drawn-out sip from it before she set it back down onto the table. "It was a Saturday," she crosses her legs at the ankles as she irons out her robe, playing with it for no particular reason. "A really warm and still Saturday. My mother was being recognized at her job that was having a little ceremony –she was into real estate- and of course, we as a family had to go there to support her. Earlier that day, I was out with some friends while she was out running errands. While she was out, she went to one of the department stores and found this top for me to wear that she thought was nice. It was this…" Alison raises her hand and waves it down her stomach, imitating the appearance of the article of clothing, "yellow blouse with layered frills in the front. When I came back home, she showed it to me and….I wasn't really into it." the blonde slowly shakes her head, "Besides, I already had this outfit planned out and really didn't feel like changing. Normally, it's a simple dialogue:

"_Do you like this?" _

"_No, not really." _

"_Why not?" _

"_Not my style. Thanks, though."_

"_Damn, okay." _

Alison emulates a small conversation with herself, fully capturing Emily's attention as she leisurely ate her food in front of her, listening to the story Alison put her onto. "And then both parties move on to the next subject. _Easy. _Difference between that and our dialogue?" Alison shook her head shamefully as her eyes fall down onto the table, reliving the darkness of her past all over again, "Every time she pushed, I would push harder because I always had to have the last word."

"**I think it looks nice. You're just being difficult."**

"**It's not being difficult. I don't like it, plain and simple."**

"**And why don't you like it?" Jessica huffs, shaking the shirt she just brought for her daughter who was more than unappreciative, "What exactly is wrong with this shirt that you just **_**refuse**_** to wear it?"**

"**You have eyes. Look at it." taken back by the bluntness of the blonde's response, Alison defiantly crosses her arms with a nasty scowl on her face. "**_**I don't want it**_**. Bright yellow with ruffles? I don't know if you want me to look like a yellow light signal or freakin' Big Bird."**

**Jessica raises her hands up, surrendering with an exasperated sigh, "I don't even know why I'm having this argument with you. Because of your attitude, you now have no word in this. I brought this shirt and you're gonna wear it." the mother tosses the shirt onto Alison's bed, "**_**That's the final say**_**." Jessica turns to walk out of Alison's room when Alison calls out after her with her tone more agitated than before.**

"**You might as well have just crumbled up a twenty and tossed it in the fireplace! Because there is no difference between you doing that and you leaving this shirt here." Alison picks up the top and shoves it into the bag her mother brought it in with authority, "I told you **_**I'm not wearing it**_**."**

**Jessica stops herself in the doorway before she turns around and marches right back to step to her daughter, face to face, showing her who actually runs things in **_**her **_**house. "_Alison_." she mutters darkly, staring into Alison's daring eyes, "**_**Put on the damn shirt**_**."**

**Alison backs up a few paces and sits on the edge of her bed, pointing to the product next to her with no kind of fear from her mother's demand, "The receipt is going to be sitting in that bag." she nods confidently, not breaking eye contact with her mother, "You have 30 days to bring that back for a full refund. **_**It's in the return policy.**_**"**

**Narrowing her eyes dangerously at Alison, Jessica leaves out of Alison's room, leaving the bag right where it sat, and walks down the hallway with the hard tapping of her shoes snapping on the hardwood floor down the stairs. **

"Getting tired of the back and forth, she leaves my room, talks on the phone with someone for some time, grabs the bag with the receipt, and leaves to go return it to get her money back. After all, she did spend money on it and she wasn't going to let it collect dust." Alison rips off a piece of her chicken tenders and begins nibbling on it. Slowly her appetite is leaving her, "We had about 4 hours until the gathering and Jason is coming in and out the house and my dad was soon to get off of work early. I had some time to kill so I left to go see my "_boyfriend_" at the time-or whatever the hell he was."

"You were seeing….N-Noel, right?" Emily asks for confirmation. In high school, other than Alison sticking to her exclusive group of friends, during senior year, Alison was also known for her relationship that everyone in the entire school knew she was in: Students and faculty members alike. You know, the couple everybody knew was going to win prom king and queen months before prom was even a discussion.

Alison nods with a slight look of annoyance playing on her lips, "Yeah, but to be honest, I never felt anything for him. Us being together was strictly for show. I was popular, he was a jock, we had to become that _"it"_ couple. Well...at least in my head that's how I saw it. _But him?_ I hated the fact that was always trying to _do _something. Because we had our label, he felt he was entitled to doing whatever he wanted."

"Sounds like Ben." Emily groans lightly at the comparison of Noel and her first boyfriend as she leaned back into her chair, "He used to always do things like that. Try to guilt you into doing what he wants."

"That was him." Alison raises her eyebrows with a forced, strained smile, "But anyways, when my mom left, I left. Everyone was doing their own thing, killing time before we had to get together and leave. I'm with Noel for like half an hour or so when I decided to head back home to get _something." _Alison narrows her eyes as she tries to recall everything from that day,_ "_I don't even remember what I left for. All I know is when I got home, I didn't even have a leg through the door before my dad is rushing out the house, yanking me back outside towards the car with Jason sprinting to the passenger seat."

"**_Ow! You're hurting me!_" Alison yells out at her father as he tightly grips her arm, opens the back car door and pushes Alison inside with no words coming out from either men. Once everyone hops into the car, Alison stares at them angrily, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"**

**Kenneth starts the car and immediately puts the car into drive, flooring the gas out of their driveway. Alison flies backwards into the backseat from the sudden acceleration as her dad drives onto the luckily empty street like a professional racecar driver. Alison leans herself forward, holding onto both front seats for balance. **

"_**Hello!**_** Is nobody going to answer me?" Alison looks to both her father and her brother who sit quietly as if they didn't understand English or Alison was, in fact, invisible. This silence caused a great deal of aggravation to seethe out of the blonde, seeing that her own family was ignoring her. "Jason!" she turns to her brother who stares out the windshield window, seemingly paralyzed with fear, "**_**Jason, what is going on?!"**_

"We drove all the way out and that's where I saw it. That's where _we_ saw it. That's where _the whole town_ saw it…" Alison's eyes turn distant, staring past Emily again. Right when Alison spoke, Emily knew what she was talking about and felt a pang in her stomach, now regretting even bringing up this conversation.

"According to witnesses, my mom was coming up on a street, going at a normal speed when a Ford F-350 pickup truck _shoots_ across from a merging street –you know, the ones that you have to wait and basically time yourself to try to merge in with the traffic- and slams into her." Emily stares at Alison, taking in her blank, now motionless demeanor at the moment. She fights herself, cursing herself out for making Alison relive the worst moment of her life. She goes to say something, to stop her from continuing when Alison carries on with her story.

"She spins out of control, rolling into about three good flips right into the opposite lanes on the other side of the median and gets plowed by a SUV already going full speed. He hit her _so hard_…." looking down at her red robe with her head twisted to the side, Alison gets choked up for minute. This pause is when Emily believed this was her chance to stop this all together.

"Alison, you-"

"She flew _so far out_…." Alison cuts off her attempt the moment she was able to come back to herself again, "that she wrapped herself around a light pole right at the corner of the upcoming four-way. Apparently, the driver of the F-350 was a 72 year old man that ended up having a stroke while he was driving." Alison shakes her head with a bitter taste in her mouth, visibly showing the disgust and anger in her face with her lips twisted downwards and eyebrows pinched together, "All these years later and I still can't shake that scene from my head. It's as if it just happened last weekend. Probably 300 feet away, _hearing_…._seeing_….._smelling_. Car pieces everywhere. And I mean _everywhere_, it trailed on for half the street. People came out of their cars to see, police was trying to isolate the scene, and I remember my dad and Jason just _pushing _through the crowd. Just shoving people to the ground as if they were weightless."

Emily reaches forward a places a hand on Alison's knee, trying her best to soothe her but she's well far gone. With Alison getting lost within herself, her lips move to talk but Emily is doubting that she's even in the same realm with her anymore. She probably doesn't even feel the brunette's hand on her knee.

"Everything was so slow motion for me that I was just...moving. I knew I was right behind them, I knew that I was running too but I couldn't feel my legs moving. The world was just one warping blur with bouncing echoes. After a while, people's voices just started morphing into each other's. I knew why we were running…..I _knew_ why we were running." Alison's breathing hitches a bit as she absent-mindlessly blinks. She started to feel a lump in her throat but she knew she couldn't stop, she had to keep going, "And as we got closer, I just stopped. _I couldn't move anymore_. Jason and my father left me behind. I don't think they even noticed because they just kept going. But I couldn't move…..I couldn't move because…._because I saw her_." Alison's chin begins to slightly tremble at the sight in front of her. She didn't see Emily, she didn't see the table she was sitting at, she didn't even the decorated wall in front of her. All she saw was the car accident scene. She was transported right back to where she was on that Saturday, three years ago.

"A car wrapped around a pole, a car wrapped around a tree…" Alison sung as Emily gazed at her, still rubbing her knee, "I thought it was just a saying until I actually saw it with my own eyes. The car was completely wrapped around the pole with bumper touching bumper about two feet off the ground. And there she was…lying on the street…on display for everybody to see."

"_**JESSICAAAAAA!**_**" Kenneth screams out as he sprints past on-lookers to the closed off wreck that is swarmed with police, EMTs, and all other emergency services tending to different aspects of the crash. During his run, he is stopped by an officer whose job was to control the people and give the other service officials space.**

"**Sir, you cannot-"**

"**GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, YOU SON OF A BITCH! THAT'S MY WIFE!" Kenneth rams past the cop and quickly ducks under the yellow tape border. With his vision blurring and his breathing become labored, Kenneth approaches his wife's body, tripping over himself on the asphalt to bring him crashing to the ground. The surrounding police officers chase after the husband as he desperately crawls to Jessica, grabbing her body and cradling her in his shaky arms.**

**He started screeching out unintelligible words, rocking back and forth as he ran his hands down his wife's battered face. His tears fall onto Jessica's cheeks like raindrops while he clings onto her tightly, his nicely worn suit now covered in her blood. The officers and EMT workers get to Kenneth and attempt to pry him off of Jessica to which he fights back, cursing out every single one of them at the highest volume his voice could humanely go, damning them all to hell. **

**Watching this scene unfold in front of his eyes, Jason drops to his knees down in the street with his hands behind his head in complete devastation. Everything was happening at such a blurring speed, he felt like he was in an alternative universe, somewhere far away from the reality of that exact moment. **

**A few ways behind him, Alison stood there in shock. She couldn't scream, she couldn't cry, she just stood there, watching Jason fall to his knees and her father holding onto her mother for dear life as the police tried to rip him away from her. All while people stood around and viewed for their own purposes. She even saw a boy a bit younger than her pull out his phone and record the whole thing. Alison's blood boiled over at the sight and marched over to the boy, pushing past everyone and hurled his smart phone into the street, cracking the screen instantly upon impact. "How fucking dare you record this?! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!"**

_**That's what she saw herself doing. **_

**She saw herself shattering the boy's phone, however, she was in such a state of shock that she couldn't move her body. Not even if her life depended on it.**

"I remember just looking over across the street and seeing this woman….this….older Hispanic woman driving by the wreck with her young boy in the passenger seat." Alison comments, still staring straight ahead while Emily does a poor job at trying to be strong and hold back her tears. With her free hand, she wipes at her face before she reaches out and grabs Alison's hand in her lap and holds it in her palm, "Couldn't be more than eight or nine years old. They were slowly driving past us and when they saw the crash, the woman quickly crossed herself and then covered the boy's eyes. I just stood there watching them drive past us and continue down the street..." Alison monotonously remarks, "That is an image that I will always remember from that day."

"I am _so, so_ sorry, Alison." Emily whispers out an apology, not being able to talk at a normal volume because of the sadness ridden inside her. She knew of Mrs. DiLaurentis' death, everybody did, but hearing what that fatal day was like from someone who was there, a family member, it made the story harder to swallow than some gossip the town made out of it.

"It took two plus hours to get traffic moving again." Alison continues through Emily's apology, not hearing her the first time, "It was crazy, really. And throughout that whole time, none of it hit me. I was still in shock and couldn't wrap my head around what actually happened. It didn't hit me until a few days later when I went to the funeral home. It was the day before the funeral and they allowed me to see my mother. They said it looked like she was sleeping. Just dozed off into a peaceful slumber. So I went there, by myself." Alison shakes her head, "No dad, no Jason, not even the so called friends I had. _Just me_. The moment I saw her, every single feeling-the reality of the world hit me all at once and I instantly collapsed to my knees and started _wailing_. I didn't mean to yell the way I did but that was the first thing that came out of my mouth. I didn't want to feel it." Alison voice cracks once again, breathing back her tears and emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.

"I didn't want to feel the excoriating pain that was stabbing me all over. One second she's here, the next she's gone. No goodbyes, no I'm sorry, no taking back my last words to her. None of that." Alison breaks, beginning to pant through her mouth as she felt her stomach tense up with mock cramps. She takes some deep, choppy breaths before she continued again, now getting weaker, "And there I was, holding onto anything I could of her: her hands, her face, anything, asking her to forgive me. Forgive me for being such a _despicable_ daughter. I just wanted to take my mother home because she didn't belong there. Then, I remember seeing the autopsy incision underneath her shirt…"

Alison shuts her eyes closed, up-turning her face to the side as if she had smelled something bad. Emily tightens her hold onto Alison's hand, reminding her that she's still there with her although she would rather her not retell these horrific events.

"Right then and there I vomited. Ran to the garbage and nearly knocked it over. You know that sinking feeling in your chest when something really bad happens?" Alison asks without looking in Emily's direction, "Well, imagine that feeling going past your chest, deep into your stomach, and then rockets back up, bringing everything with it. My dad had to physically remove me from the home because I was going to say there all night. I was not going to leave her alone in the dark by herself. _I couldn't. I wasn't_. And even when he came to get me, I was kicking and screaming, angry that he would try to separate us. Then when the funeral actually came, it was just a _fucking _mess. Jason specifically." Alison groans with disgust, remembering one of the most draining days of her life, "Having the congregation afterwards with all the food and people giving their condolences, Jason was wandering around, polishing down any unfinished drinks he came across. _Wine, cocktail, beer, anything._ And he was doing it in plain sight, he wasn't even trying to hide it. All that progression he went through for staying sober….gone."

**Alison walks along a long street, shuffling her feet through the concrete as the sun rests high in the sky to heat up her back. Cars drove past her, gazing at her through their windows. She never made any eye contact with them but she knew that that's what they did. That's what everyone in that town ever does anymore; they get quiet whenever she comes around and just stare. Alison hates that more than anything in the world. After walking for about half an hour, she comes up a driveway of a house. With her long-sleeved sweater that was a size to large, jeans, and her long hair that ran down the side of her long, pale face, Alison walks up to the front door of the house and rings the doorbell. Once rang, she takes a step away from the door and waits.**

**The locks of the home clicks and the front door swings open, emerging the tall boy behind the frame. He looks at Alison a bit surprised by her appearance and opens his screen door.**

"_**Alison**_**."**

**Alison looks into the eyes of Noel as he leans his side against the door, looking over the small blonde on his porch, "I'm sorry for just popping up without texting or anything," Alison timidly pulls on the end of her sleeves, feeling small in front of the brunet, "I just really need you right now." This was the first time Alison has ever allowed anyone in Rosewood to see her waver in confidence and be completely vulnerable. But at this moment, she doesn't care. She felt so broken down as a human being that she wanted to get away, get away from everything and everyone and be held in a pair of strong, warm arms.**

"**_Uhm_…" Noel fidgets around uncomfortably, crossing his arms as the sounds of uncertainty rumbles out of his throat. "I'm….this…..I'm surprised you came out here. This-this isn't a good time…."**

"**Noel, **_**please**_**." Alison sighs with a small roll of her eyes. She was feeling down but wasn't down enough to beg for attention. She hopped she could see Noel with no issues and he could just hold her. After all, they were technically together and after all the time they've spent around each other, she figured he could at least do that in this trying time.**

**"Ali, I'm kinda-"**

"**Is that the pizza guy, already?" a feminine voice floats in from behind him, cutting his sentence short. Seconds later a hand wraps around Noel's biceps, pulling into him to have their identity revealed with the sun rays shedding light on the mysterious girl's face.**

"_**J**_**…**_**Jenna?**_**" Alison breathes out harshly. The brunette makes eye contact with the blonde and immediately has her face soften in shock. Noel grimaces, looking at Jenna before he shamefully found his way back to Alison's wide blue eyes. "What the hell is this?"**

**Noel tries to come out with some kind of response but his tongue tied, preventing him from trying to explain himself in this incriminating situation. Alison hopelessly stands in front of Noel and Jenna, dumbfounded by what she walked into. Before Noel was able to finally say something, Alison turns around and quickly paces off Noel's porch, determined to get as far away as she can.**

Alison lets out this snicker after a few seconds of silence. Before she knew it, she started giggling to herself. "You want to hear something funny?" Alison chuckles out her words, starting to gain volume in her laughter. Emily glances Alison up and down in confusion, wondering if she had finally lost it.

"After all of that, after _everything _happened...guess what?" Alison turns her head to face Emily for the first time since this conversation started. Her smile was contrived, almost clownish looking as she continues to giggle. Something about that smile made Emily shiver inside but she played along, just to see what she was going to say, "_She took the wrong bag!_ The bag with the yellow shirt and receipt was left behind by mistake." Alison laughs even harder, bobbing her head up and down to catch her breath as if Emily has told her the funniest joke ever. "_She-she literally died for nothing! _I still have the shirt, untouched, hanging in my closet back at my apartment." Alison reaches up to wipe away a tear under eye, before she looked back at Emily. On cue of seeing the brunette's now extremely alarmed face, Alison bursts out laughing again.

"And when the dust settled…..and the crowd disappeared, three remaining, grieving DiLaurentis' were left behind. And two of them needed someone to blame." with her giggling starting to subside, Alison indifferently shrugs with her lips pursed, "They couldn't blame the old man because he caught a fucking stroke and nearly killed himself so…they blamed _me_ for my mother's death."

If her face wasn't as long as Sarah Jessica Parker's already, that last sentence brought Emily to the floor. Although Alison is seemingly unmoved by what she just said, Emily knew it was an act. Some kid of defense mechanism. It would be a matter of seconds now for her to drop it.

"My dad? He was _furious_. He was hurt. He needed someone to blame and for a while, he blamed me as well. But...I think the realization came to him that it wasn't my fault and how he couldn't put that burden on me. Jason, however, _never got that fucking message._" Alison smile begins to chip away as the random burst of emotion brought her a temporary high for a second before she was dropped back to reality, "Before he completely disowned me, he would drill into my head that I killed our mother. That everything was my fault. Now, he never hit me but his words made me feel like I was getting beaten like a useless mule every day. The things he used to say to me would break my soul down to the point he actually made me believe I was soulless."

"**But can we express the set of parametric equations as just a normal equation where y is expressed as a function of x, or x is expressed as a function of y? Let's try it. So, the easiest thing to do is let's just rewrite them-"**

**Rosewood High's pre-calculus teacher stands in front of the whiteboard and starts working on the current equation for the class. Emily follows along with the teacher in a page of her notebook where she had written examples of equations everywhere. However, no matter how many times the teacher goes over yet another example, she just can't grasp the concept of how to get to the correct solution. She takes a silent huff in defeat as she leans back in her chair, willing to just watch the teacher one more time so she could get over this obstacle. Letting her eyes roam around to the surrounding students, Emily's eyes lay on a particular student who wasn't even following along with the curriculum being taught. Emily continues to look on as Alison stared outside the window she sat next to. **

**Ever since the news of her mother's sudden death, Alison has went from the life of everything to just a hollow shell of a person. It was almost unnatural. No matter where the blonde was, she commanded attention from everyone. Even in classes she would go the extra mile to prove her superiority. She wasn't just a pretty, popular girl, Alison was a **_**smart, **_**pretty, popular girl. But lately, you couldn't even tell she was in a room because of how much she blended herself into the walls. Now, Emily isn't exactly "a friend" of Alison's. She would only talked with Alison here and there because of the common classes and assignments they would work on with one another when paired up. Deep down in her heart, seeing her in this state was heartbreaking, to say the least. With her father going back and forth overseas, her worst nightmare is having to go to his funeral. So, on some level, she feels like she can relate to Alison's pain but she knows that they are on two different levels. **

**After staring for a bit too long, Emily diverts her attention back to the board to see her teacher add on even more material that she just entirely missed.**

_**Ugh! What is all that?!**_

…**.**

**Getting out of the last class of the day, Emily slams her locker closed with everything she needed inside her bag so that she can walk out the doors and get ready for her plans later. She pulls her phone from her back pocket and checks her notifications that she has yet to see. Walking down the same hall, Alison bypasses everybody's following eyes and approached her locker. She didn't have much she needed in there but a textbook, seeing that she was trying to avoid a crowd. Taking a quick glance upwards while her application loaded, Emily does a double take when she noticed Alison standing at her locker with everyone around her carrying on their business but hushed with the blonde around. Unintentionally, Emily joins the masses as she watches a weak Alison pull her book out of her locker and shoved it into her bag. Just as she starts feeling bad for ogling the girl so much, Alison face slowly lifts up, turning to the side to instantly find and lock eyes with Emily's, inadvertently. Emily's heartbeat quickens on sight, not meaning to look at Alison, although, now that they were in a stare-down, Emily just couldn't turn away. The absent, distant look Alison wore gave Emily the chills. Wearing thrown on, lazy clothing that she normally wouldn't get caught dead in, her hair flat and lifeless, and mouth stretched down in a sad frown, Emily and Alison stood there for a moment in time and just gazed at each other. Getting lost in five seconds that felt like three minutes, Emily feels a tug on her arm from behind her.**

"**C'mon, Em. Spencer is waiting for us out front." Hanna's voice interrupts as she hooked her arm around Emily's. The brunette looked at Hanna's eager face that was suddenly by her side before she glances back at Alison who was still looking at her. She looks on for another second before she let Hanna pull her away in the opposite direction. And with that, that was the last time she and Alison shared an interaction with one another in Rosewood.**

"Days upon days upon countless weeks, he broke me down to a molecular level. And after he was done dragging me through the dirt restlessly by my face, he dropped off the face of the earth. Without saying anything. _Just like that_. Last time I saw him was on Thanksgiving. Before that he didn't talk to me for a whole year and a half. We tried to have a normal thanksgiving. _We tried." _Alison sadly strains, clenching her hand into a fist, "But Jason couldn't. He couldn't stand to be next to me. I _knew _this. I could feel it radiating off of him like a heater. He treated me as if I was one of those kids that catches a tantrum, loses their shit, grabs an ax, and just hacks their parents to death. He treated me as _I _personally killed our mother. But...but that's the thing I think he forgets…." Alison turns back to face Emily, this time without a creepy smile but, instead, with droopy eyes and a shaky chin that caused her teeth to clatter against each other, "_She was my mother too_." Alison sucks in a deep breath as she feels the first set of hot tears roll down her face. Emily feels her own tears starting to build up in her eyes again, hearing all of this for the first time in a major, unloading way.

"I don't have a mother. I don't have a father. I don't have a brother. _I'm alone_." Alison begins to sob, causing her whole body to shudder with pain. Her words now come out even and rough as she tries to talk through her tears, "The only family I have is Miranda, Amy, and Dr. Elliot. God forbid Miranda or Amy moves or Dr. Elliot relocates. They've literally been my only lifelines here and I know I'm being _dramatic-_"

"You're not being dramatic, Alison…" Emily response back in barely a whispers as she wipes Alison's tears away. She's never felt so helpless before, not being able to do anything to ease Alison's aching away. _If only I had knew she was going through this years ago. I would have at least offered some kind of support for her while I was there_, Emily kicks herself in thoughts of regret.

"-but that's all I got. That's all I have. If you need someone to talk to, have a question, or need advice, you can call your mom right now. You can ask her whatever is on your mind. You're growing up, you're learning to adapt in the real world, you can call her." Alison turns the tables around, gritting her teeth in anger and sorrow as Emily gently nods her head, massaging the blonde's hand to try to keep her steady, "_I can't._ If I have a question, I have to say it in a prayer and hope that sometime that week she'll visit me in a dream and give me an answer. I'm learning everything _alone_. No help from my father and sure's the hell no help from Jason."

"_Alison_," Emily scoots her chair closer to Alison so that she was basically in-between her legs. She lets go of her hand and cups her face, making sure that Alison is actually seeing and understanding her, "you're not alone. You have me. I'm not going anywhere."

Alison searches back and forth into Emily eyes, biting her upper lip as Emily soothes her cheeks with her thumbs, "Remember when you took me to the park for this first time?" she asks quietly.

"_Yeah_." Emily murmurs back with a small smile, hoping that the conversation would take a lighter turn.

"I been living here for three years and I've never been to that park. _Why?_ It's because I _hate_ seeing people." Alison whispers her reply in a harsh, tear choking manner. Emily's soft smile fades once again as she and Alison hold onto their deep eye contact. She knew this conversation was far from being light.

"I've gotten to the point that I loathe seeing parents walking around with their kids, siblings tossing a Frisbee to each other, running to get ice cream or popsicles, and having little fights about who gets to drink out of the single soda can that they have to share. You know _how much_ I would rather argue with Jason about who gets to have the last bite of a hotdog than for him to hate me and disintegrate my existence from his life? Why can't I have _that _brother?" Alison questions with complete sincerity as she places her hands on top of Emily's, deeply wanting to know why she doesn't have the relationship she yearns for. "The brother that sees his little sister crying and immediate runs up to her and says, "_Who hurt you?_" ready to kick the ass of the person that brought his sister to tears. Where is him? _Where?!_ I don't even have a brother to love me, to protect me, to be there when I need him more than anyone else. No, he hurt me than he abandoned me." Alison bows her head in Emily's hands and let out a few more rounds of sobbing, occasionally getting caught in a small coughing fit.

"There was something that happened." Alison rubs off the tears staining her cheeks, lifting her head to look back in Emily's tearful brown eyes, "Long before I met you again." the blonde takes in a deep breath to herself before she goes onto yet another reveal, "I go to a psychiatrist once a week and take anti-depressants every day and have been all this time. My depression has sent me to hell and back and, one time, it really wanted me to self-destruct."

Emily gazes at Alison with a sense of confusion, not understanding this brand new information. With all this time that they've been together, Alison never told her about going to therapy or taking medication. When she would be over Alison's apartment, or even with her at her place, she's never seen Alison popping pills. She never even noticed a real change in her behavior or anything. Why did she keep this from her until now?

"First and foremost, I hate medication. _I hate it_." Alison spits out with a loathing scowl, "I really don't understand why the hell people _want _to be on medication. Like it's fucking cool or _edgy, _like it gives depth to your character. But one day, I had a breakdown. _A very severe breakdown_. The only people that know about it is my father, Dr. Elliott, Miranda, and Amy because they were there. Thing got so bad, so quickly that I ended up going to the emergency room." Alison cocks her head to the side, squinting her swollen eyes, "Did you know my dad had to force Jason to come see me because he refused to come? You mean to tell me I could be in a _fucking life or death situation _and that son of a bitch won't even come see me? Like that's beneath him-like I'm _beneath _him." Alison rips her hand out of her Emily's hold, crossing her arms angrily as she begins to fume, panting out of the adrenaline her body is starting to produce, "That hurt me so much that I couldn't stand to even see his...fucking..._bitch ass face_. I wanted him gone, I wanted him _out._"

Emily sadly reaches back to hold Alison, trying to calm her down when Alison slams her fist onto Emily's table, unexpectedly, "_Damn him!_" This sudden and swift movement caused the brunette to jump with no warning that Alison was going to burst like that. Alison takes another stab at the table to make the plates and glasses shake at her fury, "_DAMN HIM_ for making me hate him so much! Damn that selfish prick, bastard!"

Emily immediately lunges for the blonde's hands to make her stop beating on her dining table. She struggles to keep Alison still as Alison tries to rip herself away from Emily with more tears streaming down her face; such hatred in her heart creating anger within her body.

"I'd do anything for him because I _love_ him! Because he's my blood yet he treats me like _shit!_ _Without fail!_" Alison yells out, starting to choke on every other word that flies out of her mouth. Emily tries her best to hush her so she wouldn't get complaints from neighbors since it's four in the morning, however, every time she tried to quiet Alison, she seemed to get louder, enraged, and the vein in her neck popped out even more. She struggles back and forth with Alison trying to yank herself out of Emily's grasp but all she does is tighten her hold on Alison's wrist.

"Even with all those times Jason and I would get into screaming matches, he always was the one that came out on top because he was _bigger_, he was _louder_, he was _stronger_! No matter how I felt, I shouldn't feel anything because I'm _soulless_," Alison's heavy breathing turns into wheezing, panting out her attempt to speak through it, "_I disgrace….the family….name,_" she wheezes harder,_ "I'm a b-b-bitch_,"

"**You fucking make me sick to my stomach just looking at you." **

"He hates me as…as…._a person!_" Alison blurts out her words as breathing comes to her much more difficult now. Emily begins to panic as she listens to the harsh rasping coming from Alison with her chest heaving cripplingly up and down. Never being in this position before, Emily nervously tries to calm the blonde by placing a hand on her leg and massages it to hopefully bring her back at ease. Unfortunately, the wheezing and the shaking coming from Alison is far greater than a simple leg rub that Emily is doing.

"**Why couldn't it been **_**you**_** that was driving to that store since you hated the fucking shirt so much?! HUH?!"**

"He-he said I-I…I should have…." trailing off her sentence, Alison's wheezing became full blown hyperventilating. From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, she started feeling week. Her heart that was palpitating at a uncontrollable speed started creating intense, sharp pains in her chest; every muscle in her body starting tensing up and contracted like a severe cramp. As much as she became aware of her own breathing and told herself to stop, she couldn't. It was as if she was drowning without the water, gasping as hard as she could with nothing seeming to inflate her lungs. With her spinning vision, numb body, and disconnect between her body and mind, Alison felt like she was going to have a heart attack and die. The feeling of death really started to overwhelm her. Feeling faint, Alison swayed slowly to the side, leaning off as if she was about to fall out of her seat. Swiftly, Emily kicks out of her chair, causing it to loudly grind against the floor, and tugs Alison into her. Without a second thought, Emily throws Alison's arm over her shoulder, puts her arm underneath Alison's legs, and lifts her out of the chair, supporting her back with her other arm in a bridal carry. She felt Alison's body tremble against her own as she continued to hyperventilate. Emily gently hushes her as she quickly heads her over to the couch where she sat her down. Feeing scared herself, Emily frets back and forth not knowing what to do. She figured Alison was having some sort of panic attack and just needed some comfort to help it pass. So, Emily sits down next to the blonde and goes to hold her in hand when Alison falls to the side and lands in Emily's lap. She tightly holds onto Emily's legs as Emily sits there, perplexed at what she is to do with someone breathing so hard that they might pass out. As she looks around, she notices Alison's robe was draped open, exposing her naked body underneath. She reaches over and closes the garment, fixing it to cover all of her. Her hands trail up to Alison's hair and begins smoothing it backwards as she calmly speaks words of reassurance.

"I'm right here, baby, it's okay. You can get through this, I need to you breathe slowly, okay?" As she continues to stroke her hair, Emily feels the breakout of sweat on Alison's forehead. A few tears fall from Emily's eyes before she shook her head, telling herself that she could not break down in front of Alison when she needed to be taken care of.

"Let's breathe together okay, Ali? Count down with me."

**This was the hardest chapter, the hardest piece of literature I've _ever_ written.**

**If you're wondering what part was added last minute, it was Alison crying in bed. That scene prompted the reveal of Alison's past that was not originally in the chapter. In order to bring some kind of life to my words, I had to do a lot of envisioning. A lot of dark envisioning and it was quite draining. But! There was a lot of things that happened: The smut, the crying, the death, Jason, Noel, Alison's changed behavior, the fact that Emily and Alison's last moment between each other was a stare in the middle of the hallway, the panic attacks, talk about a bad incident in the past that prompted Ali in the ER... there is a lot. ****And if you go back and re-read certain chapters that have Alison's view on things, you could see how the puzzle connects here and there. Like...in Chapter 17: Field of Comfort, perhaps? **

**With a 17k worded chapter, I'm done talking. Now, it's your turn. What did _you _take from this chapter? Did you have the right suspicions all along _or _were you just as dumbfounded as Emily?**


	29. Chapter 29: Trouvaille

**Welcome back to the chapter you've all been waiting for. **

**Was that number count correct? Is this chapter **_**really **_**this long? 'Tis is, my friend.**

**Now, last chapter was preeeetty heavy, I cannot deny. And truth be told, I feel kinda bad giving you guys the long, awaited smut, just for it to be overtaken by the tragic story. However, now you see what makes Alison who she is. You've all had theories about Alison's past and what she's been through and now you got the real deal answers. Now what happens after and how Emily deals with everything is the next question. Something you will see in this chapter. I hope you're somewhere comfortable because this right here? This right is a long trip.**

**Fun fact: this chapter pretty much has a "soundtrack" so to speak as I noticed. For best reading experience, lay/sit somewhere quietly, plug in your headphones and listen along to the selected music at the time played. Now you ain't goooottaaa but I feel that it'll put you directly into the story while you read along.**

**Does this mean I have to put a disclaimer, thingy?**

**DISCLAIMER: None of these are my songs. I do not own them. If they were, I wouldn't be on this site. (yes i probably would) **

**Alright homies, I'll see you all at the end where I have some pretty interesting news…**

**OMG THEY SAID THE THING VVVV**

CHAPTER #29: Trouvaille

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

"**All of this hype about the Royal Wedding makes me wish I lived in England. It's literally the only thing you see on TV now!"**

"**Have you seen Kate's dress? ****Alexander McQueen with a nine foot train? God, I damn near had an orgasm when she stepped out of that car."**

**Aria and Hanna go back and forth as they lounge in Spencer's kitchen along with Spencer and Emily with their eyes stuck to the TV. They snack on whatever food was available to them as Spencer slowly spun around in her stool, scrolling through her Facebook feed. **

"**And she's gorgeous." Emily adds onto the round of compliments as she watched the live coverage of everything Royal with a half-eaten kiwi in her hand, "Prince William is **_**so **_**lucky to get a woman like that. Princess Diana would be so proud."**

"**Hey, be careful. You don't want to get Spencer riled up with her theories again." Aria nudges Emily non-secretively, keeping her eyes on Spencer as she mocked her with a smile knowing that her words were going to get a reaction out of her.**

"_**Shut up, Aria.**_**" Spencer glances up from her phone briefly to snarl back in response, feeding right into Aria's game, "Don't act like you and I both didn't sit there for an hour watching that Princess Diana documentary."**

**Aria pouts her lips, bouncing her head from side to side in thought, "…..You're right. I just find it so sad that-"**

"**Holy shit…" Spencer cuts off Aria's statement with her mouth dropped in pure and utter shock. All girls shift their attention to her with the news broadcast becoming background noise as she lifted up the phone closer to her face almost if she couldn't believe she was reading what was right in front of her.**

"**What?" the other three girls collectively ask as they separately tried to read and decipher Spencer's facial expression.**

**Spencer takes a moment to peel herself from the phone before she slowly turned her face to look at her friends. Her eyes drop for a second, glancing all over her floor as she tried to process all this new information that was starting to overwhelmed her. **

"**Spencer, what happened?" Aria pushed, now getting out of her chair to walk over to the lost brunette.**

"**Did you find out that your favorite actor was short again?" Hanna cocks her head to the side with a small smirk as she took a bite of the last chocolate donut Spencer's mom had dropped off before she left to run errands.**

**Spencer's eyes sadly drift back up to Hanna's smug smile and Emily's concerned face as she feels Aria gently pulling her phone out of her hand, "…Mrs. DiLaurentis got into a car accident."**

"_**Really?**_**" Emily gasps on beat after, instantly putting her fruit on the empty plate besides her. She reached for the remote across from the kitchen island and put the TV on mute so that Spencer had the complete floor to herself to explain what the hell she was saying.**

"_**Where?**_**" Hanna's face falls a bit after finding out the situation was more serious than a joke she thought it to be.**

"**Is she okay?" Aria looks between Spencer and her phone as she quickly scrolled up and down Spencer's feed to find the source of the news she had just inquired. **

"…**She died…"**

**The room suddenly became quiet. **

**Eerily quiet. **

**Too quiet, too fast. **

**Aria gradually lets her hands fall down to her sides as she and the rest of the girls stared at Spencer. Nobody knew what to say. What do you say when you find out a well-known woman, mother, and member of the community has passed away? It wasn't as if Mrs. DiLaurentis was some stranger, everyone knew her. Everyone knew all of the DiLaurentis'. Whether or not you liked them, you knew who they were. Becoming incredibly restless now, Spencer gets out of her chair and begins pacing in front of her kitchen. The girls continue to stare at her in silence as the brunette began biting her nails out of anxiousness.**

"**You're bullshitting." Hanna becomes the first to say something, however, her choice of wording makes Emily, Aria, and Spencer snap their necks in her direction with vexation, Emily and Aria calling out her name for such remark.**

"**Why would I wish **_**death**_** on somebody's mother, Hanna?!" Spencer shakenly barks back a little harder than she wanted to. She throws her hands at Aria who still held onto her phone, "It's all over Facebook!"**

"**Oh my god…" Emily whimpers out as she checked her own Facebook feed. Spencer wasn't bullshitting. Mrs. DiLaurentis was in a fatal car crash with two other vehicles. There was even photos of the scene. Her stomach churned unlike anything else as she scrolled to see all the comments and posts people were currently making towards the accident. **

"_**She's my fucking**__**neighbor**_**." Spencer muttered to herself as she began pacing uneasily again, still not being able to let the news sink in, "They-they-they live right next door to me and sh-she fucking **_**died!**_**"**

Emily blinks as the recollection of that fatal Sunday played over in her head for the 163rd time. With the sun high in the sky and its rays pouring into Emily's whole 1st floor, she lies awake on her couch as Alison lays facing her, her hands securely around Emily's neck as she nuzzled her face into the brunette's chest. There was a blanket over the two but Emily had it mostly covering Alison's naked body that was still covered her light robe, probably retaining zero body heat. Throughout the night, with her chin resting on top of Alison's head, Emily slipped her hand inside the blonde's garment and caressed her fingers in small shapes on her warm back. Their legs intertwined within each other and bodies snuggled with Emily's mind continuing to run rampant from their last conversation to now early in the morning. She did not sleep a wink. How could she? She wasn't even able to take in the fact that she made love to the girl of her dreams without her mind drifting off to the bombshells of the night. To know that Alison has been walking around with that burden on her back, those memories seared into her mind, her regret that crippled her every move was overwhelming to Emily. The fact that she didn't _notice_ is enough to make her kick herself. All this time. Not just here but years ago, as well. She saw how dark and down Alison had become and not once did she consult her. She could have made a difference somewhere if she had just…._talked _to her. She had many of opportunities to do so: at the funeral, in classes, passing periods, when school ended, she had way more than enough chances.

And Jason.

_How fucking dare he?_

_Yes, he lost a mother too and was just as devastated as Alison and their father, but how fucking dare he? The mental and emotional abuse was over the line, tremendously._ And if she was being honest, if she wasn't in her right mind, she would hunt him down and kick his ass to give him a dose of abuse that was more physical. From the depressed breakdown to medications and psychiatrist visits, Emily tries to remember any moment, if there was any at all, when Alison didn't seem like….herself. Just then, a moment came into her head that she was surprised that she completely disregarded. She reaches behind her where her phone laid and unlocked it, quickly going to the internet as she tried to make the least amount of movement to prevent Alison from waking up. The brunette types in the URL of a particular website she frequents from time and time and started typing in key words within its search bar.

BLOOD

_To dream that others are bleeding signifies an emotional cry for help. If blood is squirting everywhere, then the dream implies that you are experiencing some deep emotional stress. You are literally bursting.__If you dream of blood on the walls, then it is a warning of sorts. There is a situation that you need to confront. You cannot avoid it any longer._

BEHEAD

_To dream that you or someone else is being beheaded signifies poor judgment or a bad decision that you have made and regretted. You are not thinking clearly and are refusing to see the truth. You need to confront the situation or the person despite the pain and discomfort you might feel in doing so._

DEATH

_To dream about the death of a loved one suggests that you are lacking a certain aspect or quality that the loved one embodies._

CREATURE

_To see a faceless creature in your dream indicates a situation you are refusing to see or confront, but are aware of it in some passive way. This dream also suggests that something in your life is bringing up feelings of fear and insecurities._

PARALYZED

_Symbolically, dreaming that you are paralyzed means you are feeling helpless or pinned down in some aspects or circumstances of your waking life. You may feel unable to deal with a situation or change anything. Alternatively, the dream suggests that you are feeling emotionally paralyzed. You have difficulties expressing your feelings._

Emily contemplates all of the acquired information that she researched from Alison's big night of horror. With a dream as vivid with symbolisms everywhere as she had, Emily figured that it could possibly mean something…

At that moment, Alison begins moving, causing Emily to put down her phone and glance at the blonde who was starting to flutter her eyes open. Adjusting to the light and where she was, Alison blinks several times before she looked up at Emily who gave her a soft and warm smile.

"_Hi, baby_." Emily whispers as she stroked the top of Alison's head, "Good morning."

"Good morning." Alison tiredly responses back in a meek voice. She flickers her eyes a few more times until she fully came to grips that she was lying on the couch, still naked but covered and cuddling with Emily. It wasn't long before the memories of the night prior come flooding back quicker than she had wanted to. She felt almost instantly draining just from the thoughts of it. Alison's shift in her body position made Emily stir a bit as well, thinking that the blonde was going to get up. Emily changes from laying on her side to rolling onto her back to give Alison her space, however, all that Alison does is move with Emily. She gets in closer to her, laying on top of half of her body with her leg sliding between Emily's legs and her face nestled into the crook of her neck, right up against the side of her face. Emily follows Alison's lead fairly quickly and allows her to get cozy. No words are exchanged, no signs of discomfort, just them on the couch embracing one another. Alison's arm rests on Emily's chest, her fingers lightly trailing along the bottom half of Emily's face as Emily rubs her hand up and down Alison's back, touching all of her. Resting in silence as the muffled sounds of Philadelphia's already busy streets created ambience, Alison places a small yet lingering kiss on Emily's neck before she closed her eyes again and nuzzled deeper into the brunette like a kitten burrowing into a warm body, trying to get as close as she physically can. And it was at this moment, Emily finally allowed herself to shut her eyes as well, already feeling enough sense of ease to temporarily drift away.

…..

Alison towel dries her hair with one lasting fluff before she put her things away and zipped up her overnight bag. Throwing the straps over her shoulder, Alison takes a second to admire the room she stood in. Starting from the stairs that she teasingly lead Emily up; to the by the closet where she and Emily kissed and was disrobed; to the bed where Emily picked her up and set her down on top of, starting their passionate love making. The bed was still unmade with the indentation inside the sheets that showed where their naked bodies once laid. Alison tilts her head to the side as she loses herself in thought, remembering different moments of that time. She couldn't tell you how long they lasted for but to her, it felt like hours with each second stretched out to long minutes. The blonde drops her head with a small smile before she turns her body towards the stairs to leave.

Emily sees Alison walking down her stairs with a bag over her shoulders, clean clothes, and damp hair that fell down her back. She flashes her a smile as she placed down the takeover boxes from earlier that morning on the dining table, reheated and scent filling the whole apartment.

"_There she is._ All fresh and clean."

Alison chuckles as she pulls out a chair and sets her bag by her feet, "Totally forgot we had this leftover."

"Yep. Fried chicken for breakfast. Very nutritious, if I may add." Emily lets out a small laugh as she sits down besides the blonde with her own plate already prepared and orange juice to accompany.

Alison starts picking out the contents of food from the available boxes to feed a stomach that didn't have much to eat earlier, "While I was uhm…getting myself together, I noticed something." Alison moves her hair to the opposite side of her neck and leans her head to the right to an Emily curiously bending in, her eyes narrowed at the exposed flesh.

"_Ah_…" Emily exhales as she goes back to her food, scooping her fries into a dollop of ketchup, "_yeaaaah_…._see_," Emily chews, looking back at Alison with a certain head nod, "That's what the kids would call a _hickey_." she leans her head back, brushing her hair to the side to show the front of her neck to the blonde who also inspects, "You gave me a pretty fair share, as well. And really visible, no less."

Alison shyly giggles as she peers her eyes away from Emily. If there was no proof of how much she crazily desired Emily last night, there was now.

Emily nods as she took another bite of her food, "Luckily for you, makeup is one helluva miracle worker."

Alison's smile slowly begins to fade as she stared down at the table. Without her realizing, she was sitting in the exact same chair she sat in last night when she broke down her walls for Emily. Although a touching moment, it was something she secretly found herself regretting. "I….I wanted to say sorry for last night." Emily's attention was caught with the blonde's words, making her look up at her to notice her soft and sadden appearance, "The random attack, the crying…. I really hate how I did that."

"_No_, no don't apologize." Emily instantly speaks up, reaching over to place her hand on top of Alison's, reassuringly, "_Don't ever apologize for that._ It doesn't make me look at you any differently. You're still the girl who waltzed in my apartment with some…_incredibly sexy_ lingerie, whipping me around like you owned the place."

Alison's face lights up a shade, finding her way back to Emily's playful eyes and warm smile. It never ceases to amaze her how easily Emily could turn an insecurity of hers to a potential strength. Ever since she met her again, Emily would not tolerate any self-negativity that came out of Alison. Just another reason to add why she's falling for her.

"Thank you," she bows her head to look down at Emily's hand rested over hers. She watched the brunette rub her thumb smoothly over the back of her hand as she tried to get all of her thoughts in one place, "It's just….it gets hard, you know? Some days it's more overwhelming than others."

"I completely understand that. I can't even imagine what that burden feels like." Emily's head tilts to the side, carefully watching over Alison. She wanted her to feel comfortable and express her feelings but, at the same time, she didn't want a continuation of last night where angry tears are streaming and breathing becomes a challenge.

"I just wish I could talk to her again….just to say hi…"

Emily pushes her plate forward a few inches and turns her body to face Alison. Now reaching for both of her hands, Emily directs Alison to face her as well as she scooted to the edge of her seat to get closer to the blonde, "If there is one thing I know, it's that your mom might be gone but she has _never _left you." Emily softly begins as she holds Alison's blue eyes in her gaze, "One random day you're going to be going about your day and will look in the mirror and you will see her. You'll see something within you that will vaguely look like your mother. And then _that's _when you will realize that she was with you _this whole time_, helping you shape into the beautiful young woman that you've became." Emily stretches out a hand to hold onto the side on Alison's face, causing her to lean into Emily's warm touch as she kept her sad, longing looks on her.

"Besides, I know she's proud of you. _I know it._" Emily softly smiles,"There's no mother in the world that wouldn't be ecstatically proud of their daughter's accomplishments, like getting into fashion school as you did. Doing what you like to you, I know she's satisfied that she raised such a smart and respectable DiLaurentis. And with that, she can rest knowing that she doesn't have much to worry about."

Alison slowly nods in her in agreement, not only understanding what Emily was telling her but with a notion that she probably was right. Even though she has spent years thinking of this exact topic, of whether her mother was proud of her, just hearing Emily say it made it all the more realer. It didn't hurt that her touch comforted Alison more than she expected. So much so that she started feeling the sting behind her eyes as tears started to form at the brim of her bottom eyelids. Alison mentally scolded herself repeatedly to not cry, to not do this again, but other than Dr. Elliott, she's never had the outlet to talk about her family's situation and all of this support was getting overwhelming for her.

"I swear you are something else." Alison smiles gently as she reaches her own hand to cover Emily's. Both their hands entangle and fall down into Alison's lap where she spend some time staring at, "This…." she shakes her head with a inhale of air, trying to find the words-any word she could to describe how she was feeling.

"Trouvaille..." Alison whispers to herself in a low murmur of her best imitation of a French accent.

Emily raises a brow curiously, not sure if she heard Alison correctly, barely making out what she said, "_Trouvaille?_"

"It means something awesome, discovered by chance or stumbled on. Like when you walk in an unknown neighborhood, take a few wrong turns and bam..." Alison slowly turns to face Emily, rubbing her thumb on Emily's hand as she gazed into the dreamy brown eyes she grew to lose herself in, "You discover a beautiful park no one has ever told you about…_Trouvaille_."

…..

Coming down her stairs freshly showered and dressed up with all of her things that she needed for the day, Emily walks over to the couch to set her bag down, making sure everything was in there for her classes this morning.

"So when should you be done-when are you coming back?" Alison asks as she patiently sits on the couch beside Emily, casually watching her double-check over her things.

"_Uhm_…..First class starts a 9 today…." Emily flips her hair out of her face as she pulls out her phone and unlocks it, "I should be done around 1 if my professor lets us out early. Then I have some time to kill before my shift at 4."

"Oh, okay…" Alison nods to herself as she kept her eyes on Emily. Her hands find themselves smoothing over her jeans like an iron, going over her thighs over and over again with the tapping of Emily's fingers on her phone in the now quiet apartment. After a few seconds pass, the silence became increasingly noticeable.

"What about you?" Emily speaks up, briefly glancing down at Alison who was already looking at her before she went back to her phone screen, "What about your classes?"

Alison changes her sights to her hands, nodding accordingly, "_Uh, yeah._ Yeah, I have classes today too. Starts at 11."

"Okay." Emily responds with her attention fully set on her phone still, "Good, good…"

_The apartment sits silent once again…_

"So, I'll drive you over to your place." Emily sighs as she locks her phone, sliding it into her back pocket before she goes into her bag again. This time, she pulls out one of her class binders.

"Okay." Alison absent-mindedly taps away at her leg, lost within her own thought clouding her mind. She leans over and picks up her bag that sat her feet and placed it over her shoulder, knowing Emily was moments away from getting ready to leave, "What happens if you…don't go to classes today?" Alison looks up at Emily to read her reaction.

"Well, firstly, I'll miss whatever lesson was taught today, I'd miss labs which is guaranteed work," Emily flips through a few pages of her notes, skimming the words on each sheet quickly with her eyes, "There would be a lot of catching up for me to do for skipping just _one _day. _Especially_ a Monday."

"Well, you wouldn't want to do that, huh?" the blonde's voice carries on for a bit before trailing off back into the quiet. Emily hums out her response as she read something silently to her herself. It wasn't long before she closed her book, putting it back into her bag and zipped it up. She peeked a glance at Alison who had just taken her eyes off the brunette as soon as she turned her head.

Emily narrows her eyes at her oddly behaved girlfriend, feeling like something was off, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah-no I'm fine." Alison quickly nods her head, waving her hand dismissively with small smile, "Just wondering."

"Alright, well," Emily yanks up her bag and tosses the strap over shoulder as she swipes her keys resting on the seat of the couch. She turns her body to face Alison, keys jingling in hand, "Let's go."

…..

Crawling her vehicle to a stop at the front of Alison's apartment, Emily pushes her foot onto the break and uses her idle hand to unlock the doors, "Here you go. Safe and sound in only two minutes." Emily's eyes check the time on her dashboard monitor with a small sense of humor, "I think it's a new record. Last time took two minutes and twenty-four seconds." she smiles as she looks over at Alison in the passenger seat, staring outside her window quietly. Emily smile wipes away as she takes in her overall attitude. Out of nowhere, something seemed off with her. They were fine this morning during breakfast, even sharing a few laughs, but ever since Emily went to take a shower, it's as if something happened. Either she heard some bad news or was still sad about everything, Emily just couldn't pinpoint where this was coming from. The brunette shifts her car into park, turning herself completely towards the passenger seat. "Alison, are you sure you're okay?"

Alison turns around to meet Emily's concerned eyes, almost as if she was snapped out of a daydream, "Yeah, I'm fine. Still kinda loopy from the small sleep I had, I guess."

"I'm sorry about that." Emily grimaces a bit, knowing that it was a long night. After everything they did and went through last night, they only got about three hours of shut eye. Ah, correction. Alison got three hours of shut eye, Emily only had about 20 minutes, "Well, you don't have to go until 11 so maybe you could sneak a quick power nap in."

Alison nods and looks over at time, _8:35am_, _less than half an hour until she has to be in class. She's going to have to start leaving like right now._

"Next time, we'll make a rule," Emily taps on her steering wheel, declaring with a new idea, "nothing past 2am on a school night. That way w-"

Alison lunges herself out of her seat just to grab Emily's open jacket mid-sentence and tug her body into hers, sealing whatever she was about to say with a kiss. Emily stares at Alison with wide eyes, trying to understand what's happening as Alison has hers closed. The moment Alison's lips started moving against hers, taking in her bottom lip with steady eagerness, Emily relaxed her suddenly tense body and eased herself to kiss Alison back. This impulse and unexpected move reminds Emily of their theater experience where Alison mostly led while she followed close behind. She doesn't quite know what causes these bursts but she is certainly not complaining on any level. Letting go of Emily's jacket and raising her hands to cup her face, Alison leaves one last slow kiss, keeping her lips pressed against Emily's for a few seconds before she gently pulled back, letting a sigh escape her with her eyes still closed. Her hands holds Emily's face still while she collected herself, taking her time to open her eyes to see the opposite pair of brown ones staring back at her, almost curiously.

"I'm sorry…." Alison mumbles cautiously as she gazes back at the brunette, lightly stroking her cheek with every word, "I shouldn't have cut you off."

Emily shakes her head within the blonde's warm, small hands, "No, it's okay." she whispers back a little too quickly, "I…I wasn't saying anything anyway."

Alison securely holds Emily motionless within her car. There could have been a person standing right in front of the hood of the vehicle, witnessing everything nosily and neither of them would have noticed. They were so lost within each other -something they were starting to do often- that if they were synced in a moment, the world could be burning all around them and they wouldn't see the fire.

They wouldn't smell the smoke.

They wouldn't hear the screams.

The only thing they could do is hear the light beating of each other's hearts with the color of their eyes painting a picture of their future. Although it's only been a few months, Alison has never felt so connected to someone before. Not this fast. Not this deep.

"Be safe at school, okay?" in furrowed brows and a lightly wilted demeanor, the tips of her fingers caress the skin right underneath Emily's ears as she pulls her in closer to the point Emily could almost feel the letters of Alison's words on her lips. Alison gazes at her, waiting for Emily's answer as she if she needed reassurance that she was going to be safe when they separate from one another.

"I will." Emily whispers as her eyes involuntarily fell to Alison's lips that basically hovered in front of hers. Her eyes raise back up just as Alison leaned into her once more, only settling for a single kiss. Nothing too sexual, no tongue, just her lips rested against the pair of full, soft ones that she really felt comforted by. When the kiss ended, Alison lets go of Emily, goes back into her seat to bend forward for her bag, and unlocks her door all in one swift motion. Without looking back, Alison hops out the car and closes the door behind her on her way to the double entrance doors of her apartment. Emily watches Alison leave her in what seemed to be a rush into the building, disappearing behind a couple that had exited just as she entered.

Emily sits there for a second, making sure she's in safely –as she always do- but instead of just taking off, she sits there quietly for a moment, taking in everything that just happened. Something was off, she felt it.

….Did she…?

_Was…something off? _

Their last minute faintly reminded her of their first kiss, how Alison was a bit hesitant a few seconds before she leaped in and made her move. She had to keep telling herself that all of this was still new to Alison so she's not going to be 100% all the time with her emotions. But yet again, Emily will never complain about being kissed.

…

"Like a sports team, the brain is created with various parts that all have separate jobs to provide a healthy, fully functioning brain. With each their own role, the brain is divided into three different components: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain. The forebrain is the biggest part of the brain and also the most complex being so highly developed. It's holds one half of the cerebrum and the inner brain sitting underneath it. The forebrain is responsible for everything intellectual. This is where you would have all of all your stored away memories, information retention, imagination, thinking process, and allows you to identify people…"

The sound of Emily's professor's voice drowns out between her ears as she keeps to herself inside her notebook. From first glance, Emily appears to be listening, taking notes of her professor's lecture, however, if you were able to get into _her _forebrain, you would see that she was just scribbling away pointless shapes as she lost herself within her own imagination and thoughts. All day she has been thinking about Alison so much so that it was distracting her studies. But, she refused to hold herself accountable. Not only did they get extremely close during Alison's opening up, _they had sex. _Although their blissful intimacy was overshadowed by some very depressing story-telling right after, the fact still remained.

_They had sex._

Classes or not, Emily was going to recollect her memories and drift off in a daze thinking about it as she continued to draw swirls in the corner of her current note-taking page.

…..

"Okay so…I have a question. _Well_, more like concern."

"And I may have an answer or solution. Lay it on me."

Alison fidgets with her fingers a bit as she took in a wisp of air. Dr. Elliott waits on her with an inviting smile, encouraging to speak her mind.

"The most _weirdest_ thing happened recently. After the long awaited, heavily anticipated moment," Alison tilts her head to the side, trying to find the right words as she felt all a huge heat wave swarming all over her face. She softly chuckles to herself, tongue pressed in cheek, as she looked down at the floor, "Emily and I…"

"Had sex?" Dr. Elliott attempts to finish Alison's sentence with a small grin now spreading out.

Alison soft chuckle turns into a bashful smile as she feels as if she was a little girl telling her friends that she finally kissed her crush with everyone 'oohing', 'aahing' and just genuinely cheering her on. She nods her head still smiling, looking back up at her psychiatrist, "_Yeah_."

"That _was_ an anticipated moment!" Dr. Elliott leans forward in her chair, excited for Alison and her accomplishment, "Almost like the main event at a pay-per-view boxing match, _congratulations_." Everything coming out her of her mouth was sincere. She's been on this road since the beginning and to see Alison turn from this broken, dark grey girl to a bloomed, radiating person she deserved to be. Watching the transformation was something entirely remarkable and she's not only happy that Emily was able to be there for her and support her but that Alison allowed herself to be pleased with life again.

"Yes, well what a main event it was." Alison raises her eyebrows in agreement before she brought them back down to narrow them, letting a thought she had let take the place of her initial contentment, "But…there was something that happened that I don't know what to make of it."

Dr. Elliot shifts slightly in her chair, with pen and notepad in hand, she gets ready for any serious concerns Alison may have, "Okay, what was it?"

"Well," Alison clears her throat as she straightens her body posture, "for starters, while we were….in the middle of it, out of nowhere I just felt overwhelmed and started tearing up." the blonde begins her story-telling with a heavy sense of uncertainty and confusion, "Now I felt it coming for a good second but no matter how much I tried to hold back, it wasn't going away. And because of that sudden feeling, I just started crying randomly and I know it freaked Emily out because of how _random _it was. But around that time, when we both finished, the most…._massive_ wave of…._euphoria_ hit me. I just needed to _kiss_ her." Alison emphasized, remembering flashes of that night and exactly what she was feeling, "_Anywhere_. _Everywhere_. But….oddly said during one moment, I was almost sad when she….pulled out of me?" she closes her eyes and shakes her head, knowing she was sounding like a crazy girl just rambling on, knowing every word she speaks goes as a point against her.

"It was the craziest thing I've ever experienced. Then after everything was completely done and over with, the next morning-" Alison scoots forward to the edge of chair in means of clarifying herself before she continued, "firstly, I'm not a clingy person. I've never been that type of girl."

"Right." Dr. Elliot confirms as she unclicks her pen and sets her pad on her lap.

"But that morning, she was getting ready for classes and I knew she was going to drop me off at my place but I felt this…._this_…." Alison glances up towards the celling, trying find the next set of words that she _knew _was going to make her sound ludicrous, "I felt this fear of separating, like I didn't want her to leave my sight as if I knew something bad was going to happen. _Something like that?_" Alison squints her eyes with doubt as Dr. Elliott slowly nodded her head back in response to her situation.

_Great. I'm a freaking loon. She sees me as a basket-case now, way to go. _

"So, I tried to stay around as long as I could." Alison still pushes on, "I actually think she noticed how I was just oddly lingering around but I just didn't want to leave her. I didn't want her to leave me." she lets out a ridiculing laugh as she shakes her head, biting the corner of her bottom lip with her eyes drifting back up to the celling, "I seriously almost _cried_ when she went to drop me off. Is this one of the major side effects of the meds you gave me? _Clingy woman syndrome?_ Because _this shit_ is preposterous."

The redheaded psychiatrist lets out a good-spirited laugh, setting her tools on top of the small coffee table besides her. Out of all the reactions Alison expected, laughing was not one of them and it threw her back a bit. She knew she seemed crazy but she didn't expect to be laughed at. Not by her long-trusted help.

Dying her chuckle down to a cheerful beam, Dr. Elliott sighs as she leaned back into her seat, eyeing Alison for a brief second. "Sounds like you caught a pretty intense wave of oxytocin."

"_Oxytocin?_" the blonde repeats with a side-eye, more confused than she was ten seconds earlier, "You didn't prescribe me that…"

"Oh no," Dr. Elliot passively corrects her as she sits up, "Oxytocin is a hormone, a chemical release in your brain."

The look of perplexity on Alison's face didn't change at this information. _Only intensified._

The doctor nods her head with a raise of her hand, ready to dive into her weekly explanation of science, "Acting as a neurotransmitter in the brain, when we hug or kiss a loved one, our oxytocin levels increases. All you need is the simple act of bodily contact -romantic or not- and it will cause your brain to release low levels of oxytocin in both parties. It's a near-instantaneous way to establish trust. Even pets have oxytocin releases. When a person is away for the day and finally comes home, you notice how dogs typically sprint to their owners? Wagging their bodies in all different directions as they tackle them?"

Alison nods, never having a family dog but knowing how they get whenever she came across one.

"They released levels of oxytocin that made them happy and safe. _But_ oxytocin is also called many things like "love hormone" because it's usually associated with helping couples establish a greater sense of intimacy and attachment. When you're sexually aroused or excited, oxytocin levels increase in your brain significantly, especially when an orgasm is happening." the change in Alison's face softened, now getting intrigued as she hears words that she wasn't too familiar with but very interested in knowing what the hell was going on with her. "During the orgasm itself, which sometimes can be quite strong, the brain is _flooded_ with oxytocin. The euphoria, pleasure, and the warmth you felt were the result of release of the various neurotransmitters."

**Emily swiftly climbed up Alison's body, just for her face to be grabbed in Alison's hands and brought down for a feverish kiss. She felt out of control. Her hands ran down Emily's hot cheeks, down her neck, and onto Emily's body now, begging to be held, to be touched. She felt uninhibited, unrestrained by the fears and apprehensions she previously possessed. Then and there, it was about feeling good: nothing more, nothing less. She used this time to regain to her senses from the immense, overpowered shock she just endured. But throughout this whole time, she had the weirdest combination of emotions. She wanted to prologue this experience as long as she could and she was going to do anything and everything she could to do it.**

"Now the crying could be a couple of things," Dr. Elliott crosses her arms, spewing out information as if she had the internet attached to her glasses, "the release, the inner-feeling of being vulnerable, the overwhelming feeling of you being closer to your partner….and in large doses, right after an orgasm, it causes attachment, imprinting, and instant bonding for a couple. It's responsible for making you feel attached to another person. That feeling is such a great and wanted emotion that they've recreated it so you can have that large wave at any time." she leans back with almost a satisfied smirk on her face, "_like_ _ecstasy._"

"Really…" Alison's eyes drift off to the side as she completely drowns herself in the overload of facts that she has been hit with. So she wasn't crazy or having these weird obsessive like feelings. It was just her brain being….happy.

The psychiatrist reads the blonde for a moment, allowing everything to sink in. The room sits quiet for a long five seconds before she decided to speak up again, "Do you remember when I first asked you if you liked Emily and you said yes?"

This sudden inquiring causes Alison's bowed head to lift back up to a more serious and focused doctor. "Yes." Alison recalls. After her and Emily have been seeing each other almost every other day, Dr. Elliott questioned Alison's feelings. At first she denied any kind of emotion towards her but after a while, the word 'no' became harder and harder to say.

"Remember a few weeks later I asked you if you trusted her and you said yes?"

"I do."

"That _right there_, that alone is something." the doctor drives her idea home with a point of her finger, "As a growing teen, Alison….you didn't trust anybody. And now, as you come into adulthood, your establishment of trust? Excluding me?" Dr. Elliott held up two fingers. Not saying anything immediately after, the office became silent again as she kept her hand up. Alison stared at the woman's index and middle finger, unknowingly what to make of it as Dr. Elliott stared back at her, "It's only within two people….and neither of them are your father nor Jason." Dr. Elliott pauses again, letting the constant silence between the two of them speak words of realization into Alison. "Two people in this entire world you trust….. _Two people….That's it._ Amy and Miranda_._"

Alison chews on the inside of her bottom lip as she began to gently bounce her leg. The all too familiar stinging behind her eyes made her uneasy as she had her sights locked onto her psychiatrist's two fingers. As Dr. Elliott then dropped her hand back into her lap, Alison eyes didn't move. All she can could do this blink. Blinking herself into another place, those words linger in her ears although no one was talking. Dr. Elliot gave Alison this moment to herself to ponder over.

"But you trust Amy and Miranda as if they were your sisters." Dr. Elliot's voice comes in softer than before, studying Alison's meditative face still a bit lost, "In a romantic way, you said that you trust Emily, correct?"

Alison slowly nods her head with her eyes finally moving up to meet the older woman's.

"_Well_….now your body is backing up your words." the doctor smiles with nothing but hope for the blonde, "You're now becoming emotionally and physically connected to Emily."

_3 Weeks Later….._

With loud music surrounding their every move, happy exclamations coming from both younger and older souls, and the smell of fresh concessions engulfing their senses, Emily and Alison excitedly walk to an open table with a pair of shoes in their hands.

"Okay, I could do a lot of things," Emily slides her feet out of her boots and loosens her blue and black rentals to change into, "But roller-skating is not one of them."

"You're a swimmer. Your legs are your strength." Alison causally responds as she unties her own shoes with her white and pink quad skates beside her.

"Yeah, _in water_. I have wheels underneath my feet that I do not have full control of." the brunette ceases all movement as she turns to Alison with a guarded and wry face, "This is actually _very_ dangerous. Why are we here again?"

Alison rolls her eyes with a brief laugh, now tightening her securely fitted skates, "Oh, stop it. It's not hard. Just how you push yourself in the water, all you gotta do is _push_ yourself. In both occasions, you're gliding."

"Do you know how to skate?"

"Eh, I know how to balance and move up and down. When I was younger, I would go down south to my grandma's house and skate here and there with my cousins." With her skates on, Alison stands up from their table and swivels around to face Emily who was struggling to stand comfortably on her feet.

"Well, you're gonna have to help me because I'm going to busting my ass." the brunette reaches her arms out to hold onto Alison's shoulders as she slowly rolled closer to her. Alison giggles and gradually leads Emily out to the skating rink where the music played loud and the people flew fast.

…..

"_Got a feeling that I'm going under, but I know that I'll make it out alive!  
If I quit calling you my lover. Move on…You watch me bleed until I can't breathe!"_

"Oh my god." Alison cracks up with her eyes squinted so tightly that she could barely see out of them as Emily held a hawk grip on both of her wrists, keeping her eyes on the floor of the rink, "You look like a frozen little squirrel right now. Like Scrat from Ice Age." Alison giggles as she continued to roll backwards, guiding Emily. Not getting in the middle of the floor for everyone to see, with the current airwave hit, Stiches from Shawn Mendez giving them something to train with, Alison kept Emily in the far back corner where it was just them practicing. They decided to wait to come to the rink towards the night where it would be dark and the strobe lights would be in full effect. Plus, when 8pm hit, the floor was going to be reserved to ages 18 and up and they wanted to be a part of that crowd. However, as it started getting dark and all ages were still on the floor, Emily regretted their timing since the moving lights started getting her dizzy.

"They're all laughing at me, I know it." Emily mutters with her stiffened body and wobbling legs, occasionally glancing up at the random crowd of people skating all around them, floating effortlessly.

"Nobody is laughing at you."

"Yes, they are. Those kids are making fun of me because I can't stand up straight."

Alison turned her head to survey the party-goers, looking for anyone in particularly who looks like they're watching and/or mocking Emily. She doesn't see anyone that that fit the brunette's description but went to tend to her anyways. "Don't pay attention to them. Look at me." Alison lifts up Emily's chin so that she could stare at her and not the glowing floor, "_Look only at me_." Alison's soft smile lightens Emily's anxiety, making her smile back. Alison rolls closer to Emily, resting her hands on Emily's waist as leans in and whispers lightly into her ear. "_I got you_. Try not to look down at the ground. Just trust your legs and your feet will follow. Keep your eyes up here on mines." giving Emily the encouragement she needed, she places a kiss on her cheek before she pulls away to lead the brunette once again.

Emily takes a deep breath and start sliding forward, holding onto Alison as they start up again. Now, Alison doesn't know if Emily caught on or not but she used the same words Emily used on her to calm her nerves when they were dancing at the park. Words spoken with such naturalness and composure that made her fully trust her, Alison wonders if she could do the same for Emily.

"_Needle and the thread, gotta get you out of my head!  
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead!  
Needle and the thread, gotta get you out of my head!  
Needle and the thread, gonna wind up dead!"_

"If you panic, you will fall, baby. Trust yourself and just go slow." Alison coos gently so that only Emily could hear her, "There is no rush, you're not racing anybody."

Emily nods her head as she straightens her posture. Doing so, she almost trips over her own feet, stumbling a few times while she frantically grabbed onto Alison like a scared kid. Alison tightens her grip on Emily's arm as she tried not to fall herself.

"Why are you so scared?" Alison asks as she decides to interlocks her and Emily's hand and advances them both to the closest wall railing, "I'm right here."

"Because one second I'm good then the next I'm buckling towards the floor!" Emily responds back with built up irritation in her voice. Being the athlete that she is, she knows all about discipline, practice, persistence, and dedication, but with every step, turn, or air she took in, she was hitting the floor as if it had some gravitational pull attracting her to it.

Alison clicks her tongue with pouted lips, "Come on, grumpy bear. Let's take ten." Emily rolls closer behind Alison and bends down, wrapping herself around Alison's hips with her face resting on the small of the blonde's back as Alison sways from side to side, skating them to the promise land of the floor's exit.

…

After taking a quick breather so that Emily could get herself together, Alison spends that time sitting there, giving Emily all of the encouragement she needed to retry again. She was determined to not leave this establishment until Emily was able to skate without her for at least 30 seconds. Getting back onto the floor with promises of food afterwards, if Emily accomplished her goal, they both work hard at trying to get Emily to balance with the wheels under feet. No matter how many kids spun past them and how easy they made it seem, Alison kept reminding her to focus only on her.

"Alright, alright, _alright. _I think we're getting close to the time for the _groooown_ folk to hit the floor." a deep, crisp voice belonging to the skating rink's DJ for the night speaks through the speakers that could be heard throughout the whole building, "Yes, you might be 18 and your parents tell you that you _ain't_ grown, but let me be the one to tell you….under the eyes of the government, _you're grown_. If you're grown enough to get a life sentence, then the rink is opening up for _you!_" the man laughs at his own joke, getting some chuckles from the paid attendees for the night, "But before we send the children off, we're going to play one more light-hearted feel good. This right here is "_The Girl Is Mine"_ by 99 Souls. Skate your heart out everybody!"

The indeed light and energetic song thumps on as the lights over the rink dims just a few shades darker than earlier, gradually putting the 18+ crowd in the mood for their private night.

_"Take a minute girl, come sit down.  
What's been happening? What's been happening?  
Take a minute, take a minute girl."_

Showing mass improvement since their prior failed sessions, Emily confidence increases more and more as she is able to stand perfectly straight up and move in one solid direction with just one hand being held rather than Emily clenching Alison's wrists like tight handcuffs. After a good minute of this progression, Alison feels that Emily has finally gotten the hang of it.

"I'm going to let go now." Alison warns as she loosens up her hold with the brunette. From everything they just worked towards, all it took was one sentence from Alison for Emily to hulk-smash the minor anxiety button.

"_Nonononono, not yet-not yet!_" Emily throws out her other arm to lunge for the blonde. She stutter steps and almost slid herself into an unprepared split before she flailed and slammed herself into Alison's body, causing both of them to do a small half spin.

"Okay, okay I'm right here." Alison soothes Emily's arms with up and down strokes, looking out into the crowd of people all around them, seeing if anyone was staring or lingering their eyes on them for longer than a blink. Separating themselves, Alison takes a handful of the back of Emily's shirt, placing her this time in front to lead, "I'm going to hold onto to your back. I'm going to support and lead you from behind here."

"_How?_" Emily shakes her head bewilderedly as Alison disappears from her sight for the first time tonight, "How is that helping?"

"Stop questioning and just move." Alison gently pushes her girlfriend forward with her hand. One way or another, Emily _will _skate without her.

"_You're my girl, you're my-you're my girl!  
You're my girl! You're my girl!"_

A brief case of wobbly knees makes Emily lean over to the side before she auto-corrects herself, "_Shit_." she hisses under her breath.

"It's fine. Keep moving, record-breaking, gold championship winner Emily Fields."

"Oooh, how much I wish I was in a pool right now!"

With Alison steering Emily's moves and catching her before she made a mistake, the feeling of ease came back over Emily as she glided on the open floor away from the heavy trafficked areas. Although she may look like a wimp from the eyes of others, Emily slowly took the sense of pride that she's not bobbing like a women in heels, standing on a stick of butter. But, within that same thought, a voice creeps up Emily's side, flowing into her ear.

"_Hello_." Alison smiles devilishly as she rides side by side Emily. Noticing that Alison had let go of her and that she had no support, Emily's surprise granted her to lean back, wind milling her arms to stop herself from falling even though the very action makes everything worse and off-balanced. Emily reaches for Alison's hand as she fell backwards, bring the blonde down to the floor as well with a sharp thud in a total wipeout. Instead of feeling angry or annoyed, both Alison and Emily burst out into laughter, realizing what just happened.

"Damn, you need training wheels." Alison giggles as she groggily stands back up, lending a hand down for Emily.

"This is probably what Peter felt like the moment he realized he was walking on water." Emily dusts herself off in her own chuckling fit, gripping Alison's warm hand firmly to support herself up before she embarrassed herself anymore.

….

Emily tiredly huffs herself to their empty table close to the rink's floor like an old man with a bad back. Having enough rolling around experience to last her 20 years, she loosens her skates to give her feet some room to breathe. Instead of following her lead, Alison watches Emily discharge while she still stood on her feet, leaning on the railings that separated the lower floor and the upper, elevated floor that Emily was on.

"You're done?"

"I'm starving." Emily groans while she swaps the hell on wheels for her comfortable and always still boots, "All that tumbling worked me up an appetite."

"Now, ladies and gents, the floor is now changing from all ages to only ages 18 and up." the DJ's voice speaks over the fading lastly song, making parents grab their kids and other younger skaters off the rink, "And just to start this party off right, I'm about to take you guys back 10 years ago with this joint right here. Yes, this was _10 years ago._ Where the hell did the time go? Where the hell did music like this go? Where the hell did my hairline go? Questions we'll never get answers to, people. Y'all remember what you were doing when this song came out in the summer of '06. This is "Me &amp; U Bad Boy Remix" from Cassie featuring Yung Joc and Diddy…P. Diddy, Puffy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, whatever the man wants to be called, hell! You guys know how we do! Get on the floor and move!"

A few pleased shouts come from a crowd of young 20 year olds as the main floor was completely ridded of the younger children and now only filled with the movers and shakers of the night. Alison looks at everyone happily rolling as she bopped her head to the clap of the beat and thumping bass that was flowing through the air.

Emily stands up with a sigh as she looks over at Alison still standing in place, "Come on. Let's get something to eat." the brunette stretches out her hand to help Alison off the floor so they could go to the concessions and scan the menu to see what they were offering. However, instead of taking Emily's hand, Alison allows herself to roll backwards with a small smirk on her face and her scheming eyes narrowed at her. Emily cocks her head confused as she watched Alison skate farther away from her. With the look she had on her face, she didn't know what Alison was trying to do.

Was she trying to make Emily get on the floor to come get her? Because if that was the plan, Alison was going to stand out there until the doors locked and lights shut off with all the employees leaving for the night.

When the first verse began, Alison bowed her head and pushed herself to begin her gradually speed of skating with the rest of the crowd. Emily drops her extended hand by her side as she interestedly watched Alison skate with the beat of the music, swaying her upper body from side to side as she started getting faster and faster. The blonde goes all around the large, full sized rink, staying on the outer side so that Emily could see her.

So that Emily could have her eyes on her.

Which was definitely something she was doing.

"'_Iller to Illinois, the Bad Boys. Keep a couple toys then I'm bad to fill a void.  
So much swagger get a style and run with it. The game'll pick up whatever I'm done with." _

Making eye contact with the brunette from across the arena, Alison turns her body around and starts gliding backwards confidently as she slowly criss-crosses her feet in a smooth and clean manor. Emily's eyes widen with her mouth nearly dropping to the floor. Alison never mentioned that she knew how to _skate! _Especially when she clearly asked when they first arrived if she knew how and she responded with, "Eh, I know how to balance and move up and down."

That's what this was. Alison was going to put on a show for her.

As Alison started making her way back towards Emily's side, she twisted her body around, causing her to spin into quick, loose circles before she slowed down with a foot extended out, wheeling herself into one large circle until she was back on path. With Emily now leaning against the railing in awe, she watches Alison seemingly float, as if she was weightless, kicking out her feet with the clap of the drums in a two-step.

"_I've been so busy, but I've been thinking 'bout- what I wanna do with you..."_

Now standing in front of Emily in the open space she had, she moved in her hips, swiveling her feet, in a way that made it look like she was doing the backwards running man in place. With their eyes locked and Alison only having her attention on Emily, she decided now would be a great time to show Emily how it's done. Arms lifted above her head, Alison does a dramatic slide to the right just to raise onto the toes of her skates, balancing on the first two wheels under both shoes. She glides her way back on just the front wheels, shimming her legs back and forth as she concentrated on keeping her balance.

Emily stares at Alison and her moves as if she was the only person on the floor and nobody else existed. It was just her, Alison, and the music. Her eyes caresses the blonde's every step, watching her casual dancing become electrified with the sophistication of her feet skimming the floor under her. Out of everything and anything in this world, Emily would never have guessed that Alison could work a pair of skates. She may not be at a professional level, however, the way she moved definitely incited you to watch, just to see what she's going to do.

While Alison moved, she mouthed the words of the song to Emily with heavily flirtation behind every breath. Right then and there, Emily had a firsthand realization how attractive lip syncing can be with the right person, the right song, and in the right mood. Just alone never seeing Alison move like this, not only did her throat became dry all of a sudden, so did her eyes from the lack of blinking. Was she starting to get turned on at this very moment?

Yes.

Could she help it?

No.

Did Alison know what she was doing?

She sure the fuck did.

Alison swears she saw a glint in Emily's eyes, the subtle turn that changes her from the out-going Emily Fields to the dangerously lustful Emily Fields. It was quite humorous how much of a tease Alison was causing. She was just _skating_. Where was the sexual tension in that?

Alison rolls herself into a small circle, still staying in her area, as she rocks her upper-body from side to side, biting her lip to keep from smiling too hard. Normally she knew she wouldn't do this. She had a problem dancing in a park, for Pete's sake. However, ever since her informational meeting with Dr. Elliott, Alison could say without a shadow of a doubt that she now felt different. She felt liberated, she felt free whenever she was with Emily. Even with Emily gone Alison would find a small spring to her step and a subtle smile in her voice, something she wouldn't have able to do by herself. Yes, Alison is extremely grateful for what Emily has done and even luckier to have her as a girlfriend so, because of that, she felt a little dance wouldn't hurt anyone.

Unless you're already combusting from the inside. Then it'll hurt like hell.

"_You do it and you do it so well. If you kiss, promise I won't tell. Damn, you make daddy wanna' rock your bell. Turn off the lights, let my ship set sail."_

Alison kept her knees slightly bent as she snaked her hips back and forth, making her leg movements silky smooth with every nice and slow stroll she did, winking at Emily as she kept with the pace of the music.

Emily looks over her shoulder to see if anyone else was taking a peek or paying attention to the performance Alison was putting on for her. Fortunately, everybody else were so wrapped up in their own world and fun that Emily was in the clear to drool if she wanted to. Having second thoughts about eating, Emily swiftly turns around as she attempts to kick off her boots. Dammit, she might not want to skate after falling so many times but all of a sudden, she caught the motivation to learn and master the art of roller skating.

…..

In the brightness of a clear and hot Friday where no classes had to taken and no shift had to be punched in, Alison sits on Emily's couch as she skims through her television channels, specifically the music choice channels. From being desperate enough to check every channel to find something interesting to watch, she ended up in the last bunch of channels that played only music. She bypasses the pop and hip hop stations, skips over the rock and country stations just to land on the Smooth Jazz channel that was playing this soft ballad that caught Alison's ear right away. The timing of the combined instruments made Alison feel at peace.

"Did you find anything to watch?" Emily asks as she jogs her long legs down her stairs in track shorts and a sports bra, throwing a tank over her head.

"Nope." Alison groans and she tossed the TV remote to the side with a huff, "Everything on right now sucks. Everything except this Jazz channel right here."

"Well, maybe we have to create our own form of entertainment, don't we?" Emily growls as she dives herself into Alison, forcing Alison to fall back into the couch with Emily on top of her. Emily's mouth immediately latches onto her girlfriend's neck, hungrily ravishing her as Alison giggles at the sudden tickle Emily's lips had on her skin. When she goes to push Emily off of her, Emily grabs both of the blonde's wrists and pins it above her head without skipping a kiss. Alison tries to wiggle her way out of Emily's clutch but the swimmer uses that rarely used, untapped strength to keep Alison exactly where she is. Exactly where she wanted her.

"Why are you such an animal?" Alison heavily sighs out as she stretches out her neck, giving Emily more space for her liking as Emily's body pressed against hers.

"Do you blame me? Your scent is mouthwatering." Emily travels up Alison's neck with her tongue leaving a trail of where she's once been. She crawls her way up to her favorite pair of pouty lips, stopping there to just nibble on Alison's bottom ones. The slight tightness of Emily's teeth holding onto the soft flesh causes Alison to breathe out a low moan, shutting her eyes as she feels Emily tighten her grip the more she squirmed. The brunette snaps her lip back, releasing it with a small moan of her own before she inhales a great deal of air, "I swear I can smell you from miles away. And when I do….I just get _so_ _hungry_."

Giving into her appetite, Emily leans back down to give Alison a slow and desired kiss, really pressing the fullness of her lips against hers before the gentleness began to diminish with more feverish and craved kisses. Although sometimes can come with no warning, Alison very quickly within their relationship caught onto the signs and symptoms of a horny Emily Fields.

_* All of a sudden, she starts becoming distracted._

_* If she's sitting or anywhere that requires to be still, she'll begin getting restless._

_* Her touch is heightened. That means even a hug could make her body cave in a bit._

_* Her breathing slows down a few paces. _

_* Her voice drops a few octaves and the rasping of her throat becomes more apparent._

_* There is a smile. But not just any smile. It's Emily's smile. The only thing a shameless, sly smile could be described as._

_* Inappropriate words will be said._

_* She will start touching you. Not always sexual but her hands will have needs to be somewhere on your warm body. Preferably skin._

_* Depending on the rush, sudden aggressiveness. _

_* Whining, groaning, and complaining kicks up about three notches more than normal (just because she's usually complaining to begin with)._

_* Hints and cues will be dropped. And then dropped. And then dropped some more._

However, everything starts off as a tingle but, the longer time goes on, a tingle turns to an ache.

Rising up, Emily lowers Alison's hands from above her head and pulls her forward, "C'mere." she pants eagerly as she takes a seat on her couch. She taps her legs to signal what she wanted next, "Come sit right here_._"

Doing the ordered command, Alison stands up and throws a leg over Emily's thigh, now straddling her as she looked down her into dark brown eyes. Emily rests both hands on the roundness of Alison's ass, poking her lips out needingly. Alison leans forward, cupping all of Emily's face inside her palms and kisses her with a long, passionate kiss, allowing Emily some brief tongue.

"Pull down your shirt." Emily groans in Alison's mouth with her eyes closed, relishing in the moment.

"Why?" Alison questions back with a brow raised, teasing the brunette from giving her instant rewards when she asks.

"_Because_. Just do it."

"Why don't _you_ do it?"

"Because I might just rip it off you and end up destroying the whole top." Emily eyes stay the blonde's exposed collarbones, wearing a large, worn out, over the shoulder blue sweater of the local sport team, the Philadelphia 76'ers. She squeezes Alison's ass in encouragement with a yearning lip bite, "Plus, I want to see you do it….c_ome on_," her voice drops down to a whisper has she verbally directs Alison's hands to her chest, "slide it down for me, please?"

Alison gradually places her fingers on the fabric of the sweater, tugging on it seductively as she carefully watched Emily's anticipated eyes staring at her upper body, waiting. The Smooth Jazz station that continued to play in the background only fed into Alison's energy as she reached up and pinched a part of the shirt and slowly brought it down, uncovering her visibly aroused perky breasts. The moment of the unveiling made Emily sigh out in appreciation as she sucked in her bottom lip, leaning closer and closer.

"_Mmmm_. Thank you." the brunette mumbles before she consumed her awaited, salivating mouth on her left breast. She sucks on the warm flesh with gratitude, causing Alison to throw her head back and part open her lips to sound out an exhale of a moan. Her hands hold onto Emily's head as she feels her tongue sliding across her nipple, flicking in any which direction before she closed her lips around it again.

All Alison could do is talk in deep breathing as she felt her nipple harden under the attentiveness of Emily's hot tongue. One of Emily's hands are removed from behind Alison only to creep up towards the front of her lounging pants. As Emily played with the upper half of the blonde, she planned on multitasking with the lower half as she slipped her fingers past the waistband-

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Both girls immediately cease all movement as their heads jerked towards Emily's front door where they both heard what sounded like someone on the other side.

"Did you invite company over?" Alison whispers breathlessly with her confused eyes narrowed at the entry way of the apartment.

Emily slowly lets Alison's breast fall from her mouth, "_No_…" she trailed off as her mind did a supersonic quick scan to see if she told anyone to swing by. Alison quickly jumps off Emily's lap, wiping her chest with her hand before she lifted her sweater back into place with hurry. Emily cleans the corner of her mouth as she pushed herself off the couch. She made herself look presentable, thinking who the hell could be at the door as she approached it. With the clicks of the locks being unlocked, Alison slides off to the side of the living room, lowering down the speakers of the television when she hears a surprised gasp from Emily.

"_Miranda! Amy!_" the brunette unexpectedly greets with a smile holding many mixed emotions towards the girls at her door, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, we were just in the _neighborhood_ and decided to stop by and say hello." Amy grins happily with some sort of plastic bags in her hands. Emily nods happily, matching Amy's brightness, with her wide-still stunned-eyes.

She clears her throat, remembering her manners as she stepped to the side, "Come in, come in!" Amy and Miranda smile at her as they pass the threshold into her apartment for the very first time. Upon entering, Miranda sees Alison standing in the living room, equally flabbergasted at her best friends' presence but easily hid her astonishment.

"_Alison!_ What a surprise! Didn't think you'd be here." Miranda innocently grins. A grin Alison saw right through.

"And you guys would be if I wasn't?" Alison responds with a snarky, knowing comeback through the smile of her own.

_She knew._ _This was it. They didn't come to say hi. They've came to scope out Emily, just as they said they would._

_Here we fucking go._

"I hope we're not interrupting anything." Amy asks as she walks towards Emily's dining room table, with Emily following behind her.

"Nonono, everything is fine. You guys are good." Emily dismissively shakes the blonde off with a lie. _Yeah, you guys did interrupt, thanks. I was just about to demolish your friend over there but looks like she was saved by the bell by you two._ _But nonono, you guys are fine. _

"Great!" Amy cheers as she sets down the heavy bags with a small clang, "We brought some house-warming gifts!" Emily's interest was immediately caught when she heard the weight of the 'gifts' they've brought, wondering what it could have been.

"Miranda….now? Really?" Alison whispers quietly as she stood beside the tanned girl with her arms crossed, watching Amy unload whatever she brought in.

"_What?_" Miranda raises her shoulders, harmlessly, "We were in the neighborhood."

"And you just so happened to go shopping for gifts while you were _in the neighborhood_?"

"Oh lighten up, tiny one. You look cute today. _Glowing_, in-fact." Miranda arches a brow as she takes a quick peep of her friend up and down, "Hm, I wonder why."

"_Holy shiiiiit.._." Emily's voice cuts through the apartment as she raises a large bottle of Green Apple Vodka, both large and mini Grey Gooses, and various others drinks -both alcoholic and juices- along with different packs of candy, "What the fuck is all this?" Emily laughs as she separates everything Miranda and Amy brought.

"I sure hope you can mix these, bartender Em," Amy nudges Emily with a satisfied smirk before she reaches for the expensive bottle of Grey Goose and shakes it, turning to face Alison and Miranda, "because we're about to get _FUCKED_ up."

…..

After a good twenty minutes passing of Emily putting on her bartending hat on to show the girls how to mix different kind of drinks with all the materials they had, the kitchen starts looking similar to Emily's bar at work with everyone moving around getting cups, ice, bottles, and the sort. Emily and Alison forget about their interrupted session and become good hosts to the girls who didn't seem like leaving anytime soon. In the midst of working, Alison changed the TV from the Smooth Jazz station to the Hit List, putting up the volume to allow Music Choice to become their little party's DJ.

"I have some medium-sized bowls over in that cabinet next to the fridge." Emily points out to Amy as she fills up four cocktail glasses with cubed ice, "Matter fact, take two bowls out so we can separate everything. Put the gummies in one bowl and the sour worms in another."

"Why can't we just mix them together?" Amy questions as she reaches for and pulls out two glass bowls from the said cabinet, placing them down on the counter.

"Because you're going to infuse them with different flavors." Emily explains, walking off to the far corner of her open kitchen to her mini home bar that held all her alcoholic needs, she pulls out a couple of her own bottles and nozzles to go with them. "The same drink we use with the regular gummies won't taste the same with the sour ones. You have to balance things out for the best palate."

Amy stares at the sealed large bag of gummies in her hands for a second, taking in what Emily said, "Damn, you're right." she commends as she ripped open the candy. She looks over at Alison walking towards the stairs with an approving pout, "Looks like you picked up a smart one, Ali."

Emily lightly smiles to herself at the compliment, glancing up at Alison disappearing upstairs before she sets her drinks down on the counter and walks over to Amy with one still in hand, "Now when you're filling it, make sure you pour _just _enough that its sitting right on top. Any more will ruin it." the brunette places her half-filled, light blue Pinnacle Pineapple Vodka bottle in front of Amy, "Pineapple for the regulars, Green Apple for the sour ones. When you're done, put it in the fridge. Normally, it's supposed to sit overnight but we're gonna let it soak for a few hours."

"Ay, ay captain!" Amy turns to give her a military salute before she bursts out in a small giggle. Emily gently bumps her with a smile then turns around to see the other half of the double-trouble duo humming along to the music, eating some skittles as she tends to her phone.

Emily slides over to one of her lower cabinets and pulls out four clear plastic cups along with the Sprite already sitting out. "_Miraaaaaandaaa_…"she sings as she approaches her dining room table.

"_Yeeeeeesss_…" Miranda sings right back without diverting her eyes from her screen.

Emily walks back into her kitchen, opens her fridge to pull out two containers of cranberry and grape juice, "Wanna make some slushy drinks for us?" She asks as she elbows the doors closed and bends down to her freezer to pick up a bag of crushed ice.

"Hell yeah," Miranda locks her phone and places it in back pocket, grabbing some more skittles from her opened pouch and throws it into her mouth, "that's why I came."

Emily chuckles, sitting everything down on the table in front of them, "Okay. It's very simple." she begins to instruct as she separated the cups. She opens her bag of ice and pulls out the scooper she already had placed inside, "You're gonna fill each cup with some ice, alright?"

"Right…" Miranda nods as she watches Emily scoop a decent size of ice and pours it into one of the cups.

"Take some Sprite," she adds the soda into the cup afterwards, "take some cranberry juice…or grape juice-doesn't really matter. Switch it up." Emily cracks open the jug of cranberry juice and mixes it into the drink, "Now, you can put some jolly ranchers in here, skittles, whatever we have and stir it," Emily digs into the bag of goodies Amy and Miranda brought and drops a handful skittles, sour path kids, and some Willy Wonka nerds into the cup before she quickly skips into the kitchen, opens a drawer, and grabs her cocktail stirrer.

Walking back to the table, she notices Alison walking back down the stairs this time with one of her t-shirts opposed to the large sweater she had on. Emily looks back down and begins stirring the concoction together, motioning Miranda to grab one of the mini Grey Gooses, "Then you're gonna let this bad boy hang off the edge of the cup like this…" she takes off the cap and quickly turns the bottle upside down into the cup, placing the tip of the vodka into iced filled drink and balanced it so the miniature bottle could stay up like a cocktail umbrella.

"This way, it's going to slowly add the vodka in. When you're all done, pop them in the freezer and we're gonna let them sit until it turns into slush." Emily dusts off her hands, turning to Miranda post-demonstration, "You got it?"

"_Yep_." the brunette nods with certainty, "Everybody is gonna get their own _Miranda exclusive drink_, each with something different."

"Put mines with only red and yellow skittles." Amy spins around as she lightly wobbled a bowl of colorful gummy bears underneath a layer of vodka, "_Oh!_ And the blue jolly rancher. Anything else I don't care."

Alison walks past Emily in path of going into the kitchen to see what Amy was working on when she felt her arm being tugged backwards, sending her back pressed against Emily's warm body.

"_Mmmm…c'mere._" Emily whispers into her ear as she wrapped her arm around her waist, "I got something for you to do." The brunette waddles with Alison into the kitchen where she directs her to far opposite side from Amy that held all of her taken out supplies. "While those drinks are going to be freezing, we're going to make something for us to drink right now, alright?"

Alison silently nods her head with a small smile, causing Emily to spread a smile of her own. As they stand in front of four already iced up glasses, Emily rests her chin on the blonde's shoulder, "Grab the Rum and put the nozzle on it."

Alison reaches for the clear bottle of Rum that's almost nearing completion, opens it, and screws on the stainless steel bottle pourer as Emily leaned forward behind her to grab two bottles of her own: Apple Pucker and Blue Curacao

"We're gonna pour it at the same time on my go," she notifies Alison. Getting the okay from the blonde, Emily softly countdowns from three and pours both her drinks inside the cocktail glass with Alison following. Letting the alcohol flow freely into the glass for about three seconds, Emily pumps the breaks.

"Aaaaaand stop." they both immediately upturn their bottles and finish pouring. "Let's do it again for the other three." she nods her head, motioning Alison to move their current glass to the side to repeat to the others. When finished, they set down the drinks as Alison stretches her hand back and caresses the back of Emily's head as the brunette grabs her Coconut rum and begins adding it to the four glasses. They stand silently together, feeling one another's breathing bodies with the music playing in the background and Amy's voice singing along.

Emily finishes with her Coconut, places it to the side, and starts taps her hands mindlessly on Alison's belly. "Take some blueberries and pop them in there." Alison keeps her hand behind Emily's head as she uses her other to open the small case of blueberries and pick up a handful. She drops a considerate amount of the small rounded fruits in each cup as she's told then reaches back into the container to take a few extras. She places some into her mouth to chew on before she gently turned her head to pop a couple into Emily's. Without any hesitation, Emily opens widely just for Alison to throw in. Munching on the sweet berries, Emily thanks her by nuzzling her face into Alison's neck, nibbling on her while she squeezes her tighter to make Alison giggle out loud from ticklish assaults.

Pulling away, Emily lifts her head away from Alison to look back over her own shoulder, "Can I borrow the Sprite really quick, Miranda?"

"Here you go. I'm done with it." Miranda walks over to the couple with the litter of Sprite in her hand, passing it over to Emily. She thanks her and hands it over to Alison to hold.

"Okay, now pour some of it in, leaving still some room at the top."

Alison does just that, adding a bit of Sprite to each glass that are almost filled to the top.

"Then we're gonna finish this off with some club soda." Emily leans forward against Alison's back as she adds a splash to the drinks. When she's done she extends her hands as if presenting their nicely created blue potion.

"And _there_ you have it. A simple cocktail." Emily removes herself from behind Alison, still keeping her hand on her hips as she went into one of her nearby drawers and grabbed four different colored straws. She places each straw in a glass and beckons Alison to one of them, "Taste it."

Alison grabs her glass and takes a sip with Emily carefully watching her –along with Amy and Miranda who also eyed her for her reaction. She smacks her lips for a moment, taking in all the flavors before she pleasantly nodded her head in approval. "Wow, this is actually good."

"Mic drop. _Boom_." Emily blows out the imaginary smoke from both of her finger guns and shoves them into her imaginary holster.

"Oooh, gimme mines." Amy slides over and snags a glass to taste for herself as Miranda follow behind as well, taking her glass. They both take a mouthful, also mirroring Alison's expression just seconds later.

"This _is _good." Amy swallows, nodding her head.

"Here." Miranda walks over to her purse on the dining table and pulls out her wallet. She waltz back to Emily, fishing out the money she had, "You deserved this. Keep it for your troubles."

Alison tilts her head at her friend with her eyes squinted, hiding the amused smirk, "A dollar? _Really?_" Everyone begins laughing as Miranda takes another sip of her drink.

"_Hey_. Acts like that should never go unnoticed."

Emily grins happily, stretching the dollar like a small kid receiving money from their grandparent, "Now I can go buy a box of used gum with this dollar. Thanks, Miranda." The laughter increases as Emily folds up the paper and sticks it inside of her bra.

_Four Hours and Many Glasses Later…._

With the music lowered nearly all the way down to just background noise, the apartment is filled with laughter, jokes, and many stories as everyone bonds and, ultimately, gets to know Emily. Cocktail after cocktail has been consumed and everyone is feeling a bit looser. However, Alison remembers who she's surrounded by. She knew that this wasn't some social hangout but a secret test for Emily. Although the brunette doesn't know it, Alison does and because of that, she consumed the least amount of alcohol. She still had a buzz, though, but she wasn't on Emily's current feel good level.

"Yeah, Amy's last boyfriend, Evan?" Miranda shakes her head as they all discussed the topic of relationship, "That motherfucker was a crook, honestly. Not only did he steal anything and everything, he was a cheat too. Ugh "he disgusted me." she groans in repulsion before she turned to Emily, "You're not a cheater, right Em? You've never cheated on any of your girlfriends?"

_Wow. Way to just slide that in there, Dani. So nonchalant._

Alison knew they were setting Emily up to hang herself seeing that she's in a state of weakness. She can see why they're doing it: She's their friend and they want to make sure she's dating someone that deserved her, but it didn't stop her from feeling a certain way about it. Emily's past relationships was never something they really talked about and she wanted to stop her from answering but she would lie if she said she didn't want to know as well.

"Cheated?" Emily repeats with a drawn-out sigh. She squints her eyes and she slowly shook her head, "…_Nooo_."

Unfortunately, the sound of Emily's answer sounded as if she was uncertain. This raised eyebrows, especially Alison's. "No, I didn't cheat because we technically broke up." Emily goes on to clarify herself as she held Alison close with her arm over her shoulder as they sat on the couch, "We were separated so, no, it wasn't cheating."

"How many girls have you been with?" Amy curiously asks as she hides behind her blue drink, wanting to know Emily's answer.

"You mean as girlfriends or just girls I've messed with?"

"_Both_."

Alison goes to stop the questioning but, yet again, deep down within she wanted to hear the answer.

Emily leans back into the couch cushions comfortably, not at all catching the sudden interrogation she was the center of, "I've only called three girls my girlfriend. Alison being the third."

"And the other girls you were sexual with?" Miranda chirps in.

"What does sexual mean?" Emily cocks her head to the side as she tried to understand the question, "Like…like kissing and stuff?"

Miranda nodded her head with a calculating twinkle in her eye, "_Yeah_."

"Oh, well there's about…." Emily lifts her head to the celling as she softly counted to herself, mumbling numbers of all her flings before Alison, "1…2…3…3 from back home and about….2 here?"

"So, two girlfriends and five separate girls you've hooked up with?" Miranda asks again to confirm the brunette's answer.

Emily nodded, thinking over it again, "_Yeah_…yeah that's about right." she confirms as she raises her glass to her lips.

"Well, how many guys have you two been sexual with before your last boyfriends?" Alison fired right back in response to their slick questioning. She raises an eyebrow at the blonde sitting in a chair across from her, "_Amy?_" changing her sights to the brunette, "_Miranda?_ Care to share your number?"

"I'm _just asking_." Miranda defends herself from Alison's heat, raising up her palms to surrender, "I mean, Emily is a very pretty girl. I know before you, there were girls _throwing_ themselves at her."

Alison goes to say something when Emily speaks up after taking a swallow of her drink, "I don't mess with every girl that flirts me with, though." her words start to sway out of her mouth as she felt the need to explain things, "Because if that were the case, my number would be much higher than seven. I mean….for a second, I thought I had a number eight with Amy."

Miranda and Amy's neck jerk in reflex, both exhibiting utterly shocked, scrunched up faces at Emily's statement. Amy narrows her eyes at the tipsy brunette, pinching her eyebrows in confusion as she leaned forward in her chair.

"Emily-" Alison muttered with a tap on Emily's thigh but she cut her off and kept talking.

"The night after my championship meet. I thought I fucked Amy."

Alison clenches her drink in her hand tightly as stares at Emily with her lips pressed inward and her eyes wide. This was going downhill fast and all she could do is blink soundlessly.

Amy's mouth hangs open, still dazed, as Miranda turns to face her best friend in crime.

"_Uhm_…._Amy_? Would you like to clarify what Emily is saying?"

"I have no fuckin idea…" she claims as she stares at Emily with one squinted eye. Emily looks back at her unaffected as she took another sip of her drink. However, just then, a thought bubble pops into Amy's head, "_Unless_…." she ponders the thoughts of her seriously drunken nights, trying to remember if she ever did hop in bed with Emily. _Oh god, oh god, oh god. Please tell me I didn't._

"Emily didn't hook up with Amy." Alison finally finds her lost voice to speak up. Emily turns to Alison with the veins in her eyes starting to stain pink.

"Yeah but I thoug-"

"She didn't. It was Emily and I that hooked up that night and because I left, Jack told her that she left the bar with Amy." Alison clears up the miscommunication, looking both at her friends, "That's where she made that connection."

Amy's mouth drops in revelation, finally putting the missing puzzle she's been searching ever since that night, "That's why you ran up on me at my job!" she points at Emily with a gasp, "It makes sense now!"

"_Soooorry_." Emily laughs in an imitation of a Canadian accent. To her, this was just a bonding session with two new friends she's never spent actually time with. She could get used to this.

"Uhm, Emily shouldn't those drinks and gummies be done?" Alison softly pushes Emily to quickly change the subject to prevent any more questions.

"Oh yeah! I think we can have them now." Emily groans as she lifts herself off her couch, downing the last remains of her cocktail as she shuffles herself to the kitchen.

Alison turns to the other brunette, still pushing things along, "Miranda, since they're done, can we finally play the game?"

…..

After the turn of events that was dying to go left, the questioning stopped as everyone admired the alcohol gummies and drinks. Not only were the candy and mixed drinks looking delicious, the gummies have slightly grew in-size as they soaked up the vodka they sat in. Wanting the rest of the evening to be mellow, in secret, Alison pulled Miranda to the side while Emily and Amy were preparing something for the next activity they had planned coming up.

"**Look, I know you want to make sure Emily is right for me and will do anything to prove that, I appreciate you guys looking out. I really do, Miranda, but can we fade out of that, please? I just want to enjoy the rest of the night without having to be cautious and made uncomfortable."**

Miranda immediately apologized. In no way did she intend on making Alison feel the way she felt; that is something she not Amy would never do. Alison is like a little sister to them and with that role, they'd do anything to protect her. She was right. They wanted to make sure that Emily wasn't some girl who was interested in the benefits of a relationship instead of actually being in one; caring and supporting the other person. But from that moment on, Miranda promised no more funny business and that they will have a carefree night dedicated to having fun and enjoying each other's company.

_And that's when Alison finally allowed herself to get on Emily's level of feeling good._

"Okay, we're gonna do it like this." Amy announces as they all stood at Emily's dining room table. Everything was removed -except the drinks and candy- and all chairs were placed somewhere else so they all could stand at each of their own side of the table. "Amy and I are one team, you and Emily are on another. We'll go through…..what, 6 rounds?" she nods her head as she looks onto everyone for approval, "We're gonna go through 6 rounds. Losing team from each round gotta hit up those _nasty ass_ shots Emily and I made." Amy points to the middle of the table to yet another drink other than their slushies. Just to make the game more entertaining, Emily and Amy created the strong shot that Emily knew as _Liquid Cocaine_. With a kind of name like that, everyone knew that they better not lose…_or else._

"Ok, I just wanted to tell you both that you're not gonna win not a damn round so…." Miranda clicks her tongue with a mocking sad face as she chewed on a fat sour worm, "We're pretty much pros at this kind of shit."

"If you mean you're pros at failing and being number two at this kind of shit, I believe it." Alison claws right back, gaining a cheesy grin and a high five from Emily.

"_That's right_." Emily stuck out her chest, "Alison and I? We're nothing to fuck with."

Amy loudly sighs with a roll of her eyes, flicking her wrist at the cocky brunette, "There goes that _damn_ athlete's trash talk. You're going to end up catching a serious ass beating if you keep yapping out the side of your neck like that."

"Who's beating my ass?" Emily aims her weary eyes at the blonde talking crazily, leaning forward against her side of the table, "_Exactly_. Nobody is." she shakes out her arms and legs, jumping in place as if she was about to jump into the water at a swim meet. "Come on, let's start the game already before I end up hurting people's feelings."

"Hmmmm...She just doesn't know, Miranda! _She doesn't know!_"

Standing across Emily on the longer sides of table, Alison waves to get her girlfriend's attention, "Emily, look at me." she snaps, making Emily raise her head, "Focus. I need you to really focus."

"Oh, I'm focused. We got this." she pouts out her lips, picking out a sour path kid from her slushie, "We got this. I'm not even worried."

Miranda turns to her teammate at the opposite head of the table from her, pumping her up for battle. "Amy, you better get this."

"I will, bitch, stop putting pressure on me!" Amy anxious shakes as she looks at the electronic in Miranda's hand. The apartment gets completely silent as everyone takes a deep breath. Amy gives Miranda the nod to begin, starting their game.

_Beep…Beep…Beep…._

Miranda reads the term on the circular device, giving her something that she has to describe so that Amy could guess it. "_Gooble! Gooble!_" the brunette flaps her arms like a bird.

"Thanksgiving!" Amy shouts out.

"No!"

"Turkey!"

"Yes!" Miranda slides the toy to Emily who immediately picks it up and presses the button for a new term as the beeping timer continues.

"Ok uhm!" Emily quickly thinks as she bounces side to side, "_Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got_-"

"Jennifer Lopez!" Alison calls out the phrase before Emily finishes her clue. The device slides again this time to Amy.

"You get paid to watch kids!"

"Baby-sitter!"

_Amy to Alison._

"Uh-basketball…You jump in the air…Michael Jordan!" Alison starts blurting out random expressions to give Emily the clues she needed.

"Jordans!" Emily snaps, certain that she got it.

Alison quickly shakes her head, "No you-"

"Nike!"

"_No!_ You run and jump in the air and then…" Alison hops and pretends to slam a basketball inside a hoop.

"Dunking!" Emily shouts out almost frantically as the beeping on the timer starts getting faster.

"Yesyes!" Alison jumps excitedly and nearly throws the toy at Miranda.

The brunette starts rubbing her belly, "Hohoho-"

"Santa Claus!" Amy wildly points at her.

Miranda grits her teeth as she tried to come up with another example on the fly, "I don't want a lot for-"

"Christmas! Merry Christmas!"

"Christmas, yes!"

_Miranda to Emily._

Emily smashes the button for her catchphrase, "_Oh!_" she exclaims as she places the toy down on the table. "_Dundun duuuuun_…." Emily sings as she jogs in place, pretending as if she's jogging up a flight of stairs."

"_What?_" Alison holds her hands out, shaking her head as she watches Emily mimic something she had no idea what it could possibly be.

"Popular here in Philly…" Emily continues to jog up her imaginary steps, "he's a fighter…"

Alison lets out a long groan of uncertainty which makes Miranda and Amy bounce up and down with excitement as the timer picks up an even faster speed, now making both Emily and Alison anxious.

"Fight like a butterfly-wait no, wrong guy." Emily corrects her foolish mistake as she stares at Alison nervously, hopping she'll guess right. She goes back to jogging her mimed stairs.

"_I don't know!_"

"Alison!" Emily stops and throws her hands onto the table to stare directly at her, "He's a fighter! From Philly! Running up stairs!"

"_Uhhhh?!_"

"Sylvester Stallone!"

"Rocky!" Alison yells out suddenly, finally getting what the hell Emily was doing. Emily tosses the toy to Amy as she gave Alison a fat sigh of relief.

Amy looks at the new term briefly, letting her brain come up with something, "_Uhm_…Ok, they listen to your problems."

"Psychiatrist!" Miranda claps loudly.

"Wait! Nononno uhhh…the other one! The other _psych._"

"Psychologist?!"

"Yes!"

_Amy to Alison. The beeping is now racing, signaling the end of the round is near._

"This is on the walking dead!" Alison practically jumps with the timer making her squirm. They can't lose this round, they have to win!

"Walkers!"

"Uhm-Walkers have…"

"Disease!"

"Nono-you don't want to get bit from them because you'll…!"

"Die!" Emily screams.

"No!" Alison yells back, beginning to physically shake as Miranda and Amy watch on with eager grins on their faces.

"Turn!"

"No! You'll catch an-"

Emily pounds her fist on the table, "_INFECTION!_"

"YES!" Alison shrieks ecstatically and instantly throws the electronic at Miranda, who tries to get in one more phrase.

"UH! UH! H-H-HE TELLS LIES!"

_Beeeeeep! _The timer runs out with the Miranda being the last one still holding it.

"_BITCH!"_ Emily pumps her fist in the air as Alison jumps up and down, running over to Emily's side and flying into her arms in celebration. Emily bends her knees with her arms extended wide as she catches Alison, spinning her around in a circle as they laugh and revel in their victory.

"What did we tell you?!" Alison cockily jabs her finger at Amy and Miranda who watch them rejoice with bitter looks on their faces, "_What did we fucking tell you?!"_

"Drink that shit!" Emily adds on, pointing at the shot glasses filled with the notorious _Liquid Cocaine._

Amy grunts as she stares at the tiny glasses while Miranda sourly nods her head, "Okay…okay. You guys wanna play hardball? We got you."

"We've already _been _playing hardball. You guys need to wake the fuck up." Alison keeps up with her adrenaline rush (and liquid courage) as she clings her arms around Emily's neck. Miranda and Amy grab a shot glass each and brace themselves to throw it back even though they _really _didn't want to. Still laughing, Alison turns back to look at Emily with an open, wide smile before she leaned in and kissed her. They share a few giggly pecks, hearing the straining sound of Amy in the back, sticking her tongue out as she just completed her first straight shot.

"Alright!" she claps with her face still pinched, "Round two. We got this shit this time. That was just a warm up."

…..

_10:12pm._

Emily lounges on the couch with one arm extended along the top, the other in Alison's grasp, and her head thrown back while Alison lays on her back, her head resting across Emily's lap and her feet propped up on the armrest. The six rounds they, Amy, Miranda endured was thrilling to say the least. Unfortunately, Alison and Emily equally lost three rounds as did the other two. When people said that Liquid Cocaine will knock you out on your ass, they certainly were not lying. The shots mixed with the candy slushie and their previous cocktails had the room spinning for just about everyone. Plus, the way Alison was laying across Emily, fiddling aimlessly with her hands, was just intensifying the previous aching she had before Amy and Miranda came over.

"Dani! Jack is downstairs!" Amy weakly calls out as she leans her shoulder against the wall and tries to put her shoes on.

"Coming!" Miranda's voice was heard from upstairs in Emily's room.

Emily lazily raises her head when Miranda went from jogging to nearly tripping down the stairs as she went a little too fast for her feet to calculate. If she would have fell, Emily thought to herself, she would have been stuck because she didn't plan on getting up.

"I'm never coming over here ever again." Amy groans, tossing her hand at Emily and Alison on the couch as she tottered towards the dining table to pick up her purse and her candy slush that she didn't completely finish.

"Come say bye, guys." Miranda waves over the dazed couple, unable to keep steady on her feet. "We're about to leave."

Alison huffs out as she rolled off the couch, getting dizzy the moment she rose to her feet. She gives herself a few seconds before she trotted towards the front door with opens arms. "Bye, bitches." Alison smugly grins as she gave out hugs.

"Bye, babes." Miranda embraced Alison, giving her a kiss on the cheek before she pulled away and walked towards Emily who also approached them.

"Bye, Em," Miranda tightly hugged the loaded brunette, "Thank you for having us over."

"Thanks for coming." Emily smiles a clown-like smile with her lips seeming like they stretched across her face. Finishing her hug and kiss with Alison, Amy scurried her way through to give Emily a great, big bear hug.

"Thanks for inebriating us!"

"Oh no…thank _you _for allowing _me_ to inebriate us_._"

Amy rubs Emily's back as Miranda unlocked the front door. They giving their last waves to the girls before the disappeared behind the closing door.

"_Ugggggggh_." Emily stretches out her limbs, walking towards the door to securely lock it, "Today was fun, don't you think?"

"_Mhmmm." _Alison hums as she walked across the living room towards Emily's stairs.

"Wait, waaaait." Emily calls out as she jogged wobblingly after the blonde who wasn't slowing down for her. With a few strides of her long legs, Emily caught up to Alison and grabbed her hips as she trailed behind her up the stairs. "Ahh, I see you already know the deal," Emily slyly comments as they reach Emily's room. She pushes Alison onto her bed and crawls on top of her, staring down at Alison's low, droopy, yet still adorable blue eyes looking up at her.

"Drunk or not," Emily sighs as her fingers begins to lift the ends of Alison's shirt, "you're still so fucking sexy to me…_damn_." she leans down to kiss Alison but is catches her off-guard with a push that easily knocks her off-balanced.

"_Na uh_. I already tooold yooou." Alison wiggles out from under her and hops off the bed, catching a slight case of wooziness, "I'm…I'mnot staying the night."

Emily sits up on her bed, watching the blonde grab her things, "What do you mean you're not staying the night?"

"I told you this earlier today, don't act like you don't remember." Alison grumbles as she tries to find her charger, swaying around the walls of Emily's room to see where she had plugged it.

"_Well_…I'm too drunk to take you back." Emily lays back on the bed with her hands propped behind her head, smiling boldly, "Looks like you're stuck."

"I'll walk."

"No the fuck you won't."

"Yes the fuck I aaaam."

"Okay then. I'm coming too." Emily lunges herself off her mattress and stumbles towards her dresser, bumping into it as she pulls out one of the drawers and yanks out a black and white cotton fleece track pants. She trips over her feet a few times as she tries to put her legs through but eventually she puts it on over her shorts and tugs it halfway up her hips, not being completely on all the way. "I'm gonna have to walk you home. You think I'm gonna let you walk at this time in the city like _this_?" she questions as she opens her closet doors and skims for a jacket.

"You're just as drunk as I am, dummy." Alison scoffs and leans against Emily's bathroom door as she shakes her head.

"Well, we're gonna be two dummies walking to your apartment." Emily mocks her, throwing on a bomber jacket.

…..

Walking out of Emily's apartment and literally down the street to Alison's, the small adventure they had within those ten minutes would make any sober citizen shake their head in pity. Stumbling and giggling every five seconds, how they made it inside the apartment building was nothing short of a miracle. Taking the stairs to Alison's floor, Emily leans on Alison for support, laughing in her ear as they travel the hallway late at night quite nosily. On their way, Emily's vision decides to tunnel as she tried to walk straight, using Alison as a barrier. Her feet wrangles from underneath her and she accidently bumps into a guy coming from the opposite direction. The blond checks Emily up and down with almost a disgusted look as Emily clears her throat.

"S-sorry, bro. I didn't see you there." she rocks back and forth, giving out her apologizes as Alison continued to tug her hand in direction of her apartment. Emily leaves the guy shaking his head as she stumbled to keep up with Alison's pace.

"Come oooon." Alison sang as they finally approach her door, shuffling with the keys, trying to get them into her lock. A few long seconds pass until Alison finally gets the door unlocked and tugged on Emily some more.

"_Oooh_, _eager_." Emily wiggles her eyebrows as she walked into her apartment, closing and locking the door behind her.

Alison throws her things carelessly wherever they landed before she turns around to face Emily with her hand on her hips. "Okay. Time for you to go."

Emily laughs tickled, kicking off her shoes and walks past Alison farther inside, "Nope. I lied. I'm staying here."

"You said you were gonna walk me back."

"Yeah, but then who's gonna walk _me_ back? I need assis…assistants too."

"_Ugh_." Alison rolls her eyes disgustedly as she plopped herself down on her floor just to slip off her own shoes, "You're a liar."

"_Yezzz_." Emily bounces herself onto Alison's bed on her back with a big, dopy grin on her face as she looked in Alison's direction, "_Now_…come, be a good girl and take these off me." Emily wiggled her hips to signal what she wanted removed.

After tugging off her shoes, Alison slowly stands up and stares at Emily with her arms crossed.

Emily wiggles her body harder with a let out playful moan, "Take these off me, Alison."

That feeling…the feeling of weakness…and also horniess appears into the blonde, knowing it's been inside of Emily for some time now_._

Alison takes her time and saunters towards the brunette, still keeping her composure. "You can't touch me, though."

"Oh, I will." Emily voices drops to a deep husks as she locks eyes Alison getting closer, "I _will_ touch you. _I'm going to touch you everywhere_."

Alison twists her lips to the side as she hides the gulp she just took. She stands right in front of Emily who doesn't let her out of her light red, glassy-eyed gaze as she sat up, propping herself on her elbows.

"You're going to take these pants off me…..Then you're going to take yours off…." Emily growls lowly, making Alison begin to throb, "And then you're gonna crawl on this bed where I will _devour_ _you_ for the rest of the night."

Alison loses all self-control at that moment and skips the two steps by jumping on top of Emily, landing her lips on hers, still tasting the fruity sweets of her drink. Emily greedy hands begin caressing Alison's side as she climb further up her bed, their tongues swirl greedily for each other.

_Knockknock! Knock! Knock!_

Alison's ears perk up as she stop her movement and sighs, lifting her up head to look over her shoulder at the door, "How much you wanna bet that's one of the girls?"

"_Fuck that that shit_." Emily stretches up and grabs the back of Alison's neck, kissing forcefully underneath Alison's chin and down her throat, "They're not gonna interrupt for a second fucking time."

As much as Alison wants to say fuck it, she pushes herself off Emily to go check the door. The brunette, clearly unsatisfied, groans loudly at her decision like a child about to throw a tantrum.

"Stop it, Emily." Alison shush her as she unlocks her door. Swings the door the open and instantaneously freezes in place as she locked eyes with the knocker on the other side of her threshold, not believing her drunken eyes.

"…._Jason?_"

There in the flesh stood her brother in a beanie with this lengthy dirty ash blond hair hanging down his forehead and scruffy beard that he had grew out. He doesn't say anything at first but just stare back, trying to find the right words to say '_Hi, it's me, the brother that you haven't talked to in years'_.

Alison starts giggling, soon turning into full blown laughter as Emily stands up and walks over to the door to see who she was standing in front of.

"Is…is that _Jason?_" Alison cracks up in real hilarity as she turns around to face Emily who immediately realized who it was. The same guy she bumped in the hallway was actually Jason, he was just unrecognizable from her stupor and his new look, "God, I must be really fucked up because there is no way that's Jason." Alison laughs her way back into her apartment as Emily takes her place at the door.

"Can I help you?" Emily greets him with hostility in her voice. Suddenly the drunk haze she once had started clearing up _really_ fast the moment she put two and two together.

"Emily, tell me that's not Jason." Alison still giggles her denial away in the background.

"_Emily?_" Jason's voice comes out with a low gruff, deeper than Emily remembered, "_Emily Fields?_"

"What do you want?" the brunette narrows her trained eyes on Alison's brother, not allowing him to ask her any question when the only questions being asked and answered shall be her own.

"Jason…" Alison appears from behind Emily with her laughter now gone and replaced by a serious appearance. It was as if Jason was a human instant sobering tool, wiping away any alcohol from their system the moment he arrived. "Jason, wh-what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you."

"Talk about what?"

"….Can….can I come inside, please?" Jason asked Alison although his eyes were on Emily blocking his way in. Alison softly pulls Emily backwards, giving Jason the opportunity to step into her apartment. He thanks her and closes the door behind him before he turns back to see two displeased girls: Emily more peeved with Alison on the confused spectrum.

"I…" Jason begins but stops before he could say anything. He bowed his head for a moment then glanced back up at Emily with a tentative look, "I'm sorry, can I talk to my sister in private, please?"

All of a sudden, Alison's eyes widen at a thought that popped into her head, "_Did dad die?!_" she gasped, holding Emily's arm tightly, hoping that Jason didn't come bearing that kind of news.

"_What?_ No. No, god no." Jason quickly dismisses her idea, giving Alison the chance to calm herself down, "I just need to talk to you about something….._Alone_….Please. It's kinda family business."

"Family business?" Emily scoffs out amused as she crosses her arms, getting Jason's eyes back on her, "That's funny you say that because you're not Alison's fa-"

"_Emily_." Alison cuts the brunette off before she had the chance to finish her sentence. Emily looks back at her just to see Alison's face wilted, her eyes now droopy but not from the drinking. Alison glances at the door then back to Emily, trying to give her a subtle hint.

She shakes her head defiantly, not taking Alison's suggestion, "No. No, why should I leave?"

"You don't have to leave, just…right outside the door." Alison whispers to her to calm down the nerves she can already tell are being worked up. Emily still defied the blonde's wishes, making Alison reach out and touch her arm, this time begging her. "Please, Emily."

Emily stares down at Alison, gritting her teeth behind her lips as she gets caught in her sad looks. Her breathing slows down, actually taking in what Alison wants and finally accepts it only because it was Alison's choice. Emily turned back around to Jason, eyeing him aggressively as she bypasses him, opens the door, and closes it while she stands out in the hallway.

Making sure she was out, Jason points his thumb in the direction of the door, "When did Emily Fields become your guard dog?"

"What do you want, Jason?" Alison ignores his question and goes right to the point of why the hell he was standing in front of her. He sighs, releasing a deep breath as he begins to explain his appearance.

"…I was wondering if you can give me a place to stay. I fell on some serious hard times and…I have nowhere else to go."

"Why can't you go home?" Alison indifferently shrugs, unmoved by the pity story.

Her brother scoffs with near amusement, shaking his head at her, "You know I'm not talking to dad."

"You weren't talking to me neither so what's the difference?"

"I know but…Alison I was healing."

"I was fucking healing too, Jason." Alison felt her body heating up as all her anger she had for her brother started bubbling up all over again, "_So I ask again,_ what's the difference?"

"_Look_," Jason steps in closer to Alison who doesn't move nor back down from him, "I know you don't want to see me, I get it. But I'm asking you for help. I'm _really_ on my last leg."

Alison pinched every movable part of her face together, narrowing her eyes at Jason and his audacity, "All the times I needed help, you _never _came through for me." Alison steps into Jason's personal space, enough to make him step back with each movement she made, "You _never_ called me. You _never_ responded to my texts. You didn't give a flying _shit_ about me."

"Alis-"

"The last time I saw you, you threw at plate at me!"

"I didn't throw it at you, Alison, _stop it_." Jason's voice rumbled out in protest to cease Alison's dramatics. He turns his body away from, sucking in a sigh as he rubbed his face in contemplation before facing Alison again, "You know what, I'm not gonna fight with you, okay? I just need to know if you can help or not so I know whether I can make it to the shelter. I got someone holding a bed for me and if I don't make it back in the next 20 minutes, I'm going to lose it."

Alison's stone-hard face soften instantly upon hearing the words that came out of her brother's mouth. With her lips parted open in disbelief, she searches deep into his eyes, scanning over his face and even his casual, dark clothing when it really hit her to what he just said. "Sh….a-a shelter?"

"Yes..." Jason nods almost embarrassingly, keeping his dejected green eyes caught with his little sister's blues, "I'm homeless, Alison."

…

…

…

**Oh, sugar honey ice tea. What…just…happened?**

**The all-time Trouvaille fan favorite has made his way from conversations to being in the flesh. After everything you just read in the chapter, and ultimately from Alison's storyline, there was a lot of different emotions flying around. Now Jason is back and he's asking for help? What is Alison going to do? Is she going to take him in or will her anger for the past get the best of her and tell him to hit the road? What will Emily think? So much to theorize on!**

**Alright. What's the interesting news I have for you guys? The fic is finished! I decided to end things right now instead of writing the other chapters. We did it guys. Trouvaille has now been completed and I've couldn't have done it without all of you. :)**

**Don't look at me like that, I'm juuuuust kidding. We still have a few more chapters to flesh out. However, now it's going to get a **_**tad **_**bit interesting.**

**What's the real news? Alright, this is what I plan on doing. Emisonians, hold onto your wigs. So, remember when I told you guys that there are two prospect stories that have an opportunity of being born in the land of Emison? Well, scratch that. I decided to not have two choices….**

**There are **_**three**_** possible choices. And, yes, this is where **_**you **_**come in. In a few days, I will update this story again, however, it will not be a Trouvaille chapter update. In the next update, I will give you a summary of each story and a small excerpt of all three so you can read and get an idea of what you're working with. Now, the excerpt may be vague. It might have Emison already interacting. It might not. It might be focused on one character. Either way, you will get a snippet of the story that is constructed in a way that won't spoil any key things that will make the story. So, when you read and soak in each three stories, with the information that has been given, in the review section I ask that you drop in your vote. From there, I will leave the extra update up for about a week or so, therefore there is a chance for all of you guys to have a chance to choose. **

**The next story is in **_**your **_**hands! I urge you to vote if you want your voice to be heard! Even if you've never left a review before, if you like something that you see, make it known! I will even allow personal messages to count as a vote. When I believe that the update has been up for long enough, I remove it and will tally up the total of votes for each story and will let you guys know the winner of what's going to be next to be published and read. **

**Sound like a deal? Can you guys handle that? I sure hope so :)**

**Please, let me know your thought on this marvelously long chapter. Just a quick recap if you forgot:**

**They cuddled the morning after. Alison felt a bit weird and didn't know why. Emily didn't know why either. Dr. Elliott tells Alison that she's started to bond with Emily on an emotionally and physical level. They go roller-skating three weeks later. That following weekend, they were about to get it on. Then they were cockblocked by Amy and Miranda. A small party ensues with drinks, drinks, and more drinks. Everyone gets wasted. Alison and Emily go back to Alison's place. A wild Jason appears.**

_**Whew! That was a lot.**_

**What did you like reading? How are your feeeelz? Let me tell ya, this is the longest single chapter I've ever written with 20k words in one sitting and it was a paaaaaain to produce but luckily I don't mind too much because I live for the cute fluff just like you do! :D**

**Alright, loves. Until next chapter…**


	30. Chapter 30: Unchained

**This A/N is going to touch on a few things so if you want to jump right into the story, It's down there waiting for you!**

**Question from a guest reviewer: **_**if Alison &amp; Emily hooked up that night a while back then why was Alison so nervous for the second time?**_

**Well, when they first hooked up, Emily was drunk and Alison was a bit tipsy. With alcohol in the mix (and knowing that the experience most likely won't be remembered) it was just an impulsive action on both Emily and Alison's part. They were basically still strangers to each other with no feelings involved. This time around, it's as if they were two different people. Alison has opened up herself to Emily in a way she hasn't done with anyone before and she left herself incredibly vulnerable to get hurt. One night stands don't hold the same weight as actually making 'love' to someone, you get what I mean? It's a totally different ballgame when you're dealing with someone's heart and emotions. Besides, who knows what things were like the first time around, you know? Going off the words Alison said, "I want it different from last time", their sex might have been pleasurable but not the absolute best for a 'first time'. They needed a redo!**

**That being said, I wanted to say how I really love how people are referring to Miranda and Amy as "fairly odd sisters" lmao. I never thought that nickname would stick but I love how you guys use it! Another thing I love about you guys that review is how **_**analytical **_**you can get. It really and truly blows my mind when you guys take it a step farther and explain your ideology on what is going on. Whether is Alison being reserved, Emily being her support system, or how they are able to mesh together, it is all amazing and I appreciate it so much. As you guys already know, I like to throw things in there, details -whether subtle or obvious- just for them to be open for interpretation. And when you guys give me those interpretative reviews, aw man it just really make me turn all colorful inside :")**

**Speaking of reviews, HOT HOLLYWOOD BALLS, BATMAN! The amount of votes that came in for the "Pick Your Own Emison" was astounding! A total of 60+ votes were casted in for the choosing of the next Emison story. (Where the heck are all of you guys during the updates?!) There were a lot of people who gave their specific reasoning for their choices and let me tell you, I know it was hard to choose! All three stories are my babies and I couldn't possibly to pick one because every single one of them have great potential. **

**On The Run is a story of the progression of a stranger-turned romantic Emison who kicks ass to keep each other safe. (Although, some have said this storyline has been done too many times, interesting enough, I haven't noticed this. One might say it's because I haven't read a lot of Emison ff to pick up on that constantly used troupe but hey, I could see why it would be.)**

**Cat &amp; Mouse, a complex story where you have alpha vs alpha in a power struggle which blankets into sexy Emison.**

**And then you have Rollins v Rollins, a story with cute little children and Emison working together to take down Elliot (I mean, isn't that a dream of all of ours?).**

**However, giving it way over 2 weeks for everyone to have a chance to submit their voice, the votes are in:**

**OTR received 6 votes**

**RvR received 10 votes**

**C&amp;M received 46 votes**

**Now I have good news and bad news. The bad news (for some of you) is that C&amp;M won. The good news is just because that story was the grand winner, it doesn't mean the other stories won't be written in the future :D**

**You guys have collectively chosen the dark cat and mouse story. It is now locked and underway to be published. Now, sensing from the reviews, you guys **_**really **_**liked the sexual tension from the snippet and I can see why that would be your automatic choice. However, I really hope you all read and soaked in the summary and understand what is now coming your way. And while I'm here, I wanted to respond to a guest reviewer by the name of "EmisonIsEndgame" who left a comment in lieu of choosing C&amp;M.**

"**Cat and Mouse sparked my interest more than the other stories, and having a fight over dominance between Alison and Emily would be really sexy. But, seeing as Emily really is nothing but a womanizer (obviously confirmed in the bit you gave us), I just wanted to say that I want to see their relationship grow into something more than Alison being different than the rest just because she's hard to get and Emily being a flirtatious bitch that uses everyone for her own sexual needs and literally doesn't have feelings whatsoever. I want to see the inner struggles Emily goes through as a consequence of what she survived in Syria, the struggles and the pain no one else sees or even knows about. Then, eventually, Alison sees that side of her, that exposed and vulnerable side of her that no one else knows about. Aside from the sexiness, I want to see raw emotions and angst evolve between the two. I hope that you get what I'm trying to say."**

**All I have to say is YES. Yes to everything. Emily chasing after Alison is not the main/only plot of the story. The whole endgame isn't '**_**Emily bangs girls, sees Alison, wants to bang, Alison says no, several Tom &amp; Jerry chase sequences, someone caves in, Emison is together and the story is done.'**_** Nonono, this is way more elaborate than that. Like I mentioned in the description, it's a light and breezy lifestyle for Emison, however in the realms of a dark universe that warrants a "Reader's Discretion Warning". All in all, I'm excited for the story, honestly. It's going to be oh so sexy. *wink, wink***

**Now, now, now. Back to the matter at hand. I know it's been a long time and it seems like nobody in the land of Emison fiction was updating, however, I am done with finals! Classes are over, and I now don't have to struggle with the crazy balance of writing a chapter and writing a 10 paged paper decoding famous research from our founding fathers of Psychology.**

**We are back in business.**

**Jason DiLaurentis is also back. And he needs help.**

CHAPTER #30: Unchained

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

_Let's take a rewind of what happened today, shall we?_

_It was a hot and beautiful sunny Friday and I woke up pretty refreshed. Refreshed, vibrant, alive…those are words I would use to describe how I've been feeling as of lately. I'm more excited for the day then I ever was, just because I know something good was going to happen. I don't mean good as in I'm going to walk outside and find a $100 bill on the ground. I don't mean that I'm going to go to class and my instructor tells everyone that my work is excellent and I should be the one to look out for. I don't mean I'm going bypass someone walking a gang of dogs and those furry animals all gravitate to me, sniffing and licking me as I'm their best friend. While those are all fantastic things that can happen to someone, that's not what I'm talking about when I say 'something good was going to happen'. I'm talking about being at work and having a certain someone sway through the entrance doors with a surprise lunch for me. I'm talking about having to go somewhere mundane like the Department of Motor Vehicles and instead of going alone, she goes with me so I don't have to sit by myself with a ticket that says 78 while the counter say 51. I'm talking about when I have a random spell of feeling empty and useless inside and instead of feeling bad that I still fall into depression while I'm with her, she comes over with snacks and brushes my hair while we watch "The Great Dictator". Just because she knows I like old black and white films and wants to impress me with how she memorized Charlie Chaplin's speech at the end. Now I have to say, even though I'm not up to much during those spells, watching her confidently fumble as she tries to recite that four minute monologue along with the movie tickles me inside._

_Even when I'm not happy, even when I'm not vibrant or feeling alive, she's there so I won't be alone._

_Those are the things I mean when I say something good happening. It's simple, I know, but I don't ask for a lot. I don't need a lot. She knows this but she gives me everything anyway. _

_And that's why Emily deserves the world._

_We were supposed to have the afternoon off to ourselves; no more errands to run, no more things to tend to, just her and I. Whatever happens, happens. _

_But, unfortunately, we got interrupted by none other than Thing 1 and Thing 2. There were a few different directions Emily could have taken to Miranda and Amy showing up randomly with no notice while she was trying to "release her inner animal". However, she welcomed them in with open arms as if they were her best friends. And the hospitality lasted all the way until the night where she made sure that we all enjoyed ourselves because nobody comes over to Emily's and leaves without some kind of feeling of warmth. The moment the girls left, I knew that I had to get my drunken ass back home, I couldn't afford to stay the night when I had important things to do in the morning. Now, of course, Emily wasn't going to let me leave without her making sure I'm safely back in my apartment. _

"_Just because you live right up the street doesn't mean you're allowed to walk by yourself. What kind of girlfriend do you think I am?" I remember feeling her slow breath against my ear as she unsteadily leaned into me because, you know, she's drunk too._

_The irony._

_Actually getting inside my apartment, I knew Emily wasn't going to leave. I knew it. I knew that her whole "safety" precaution spiel was about 80% of her being seriously worried for my welfare and 20% of her wanting to stay over with the chance that she could devour me "for the rest of the night"._

_I won't lie….that sounded like a plan to me. How could you say no to a demand like that? Everything about that was so sexy and at that point, she could have done whatever she wanted to me._

_But here we are, interrupted…..again._

_Now, if the universe wanted to punish me for being happy, sending fucking Jason to my door would be one of the ways to do it. Not only is Jason at my door but he's begging for help. _

_Wait for it, wait for it…_

_Because he's fucking homeless. Jason DiLaurentis is on skid row and he's pleading with me to help him. _

_This could go two ways: I help him and Emily, who was ready to disintegrate him the moment she saw him, will be completely against it. Or I can tell him to screw off and something bad happens to him because he is living on the streets._

_Yep, this really is a punishment. _

Alison bows her head down as Jason continues to stare at her, hoping that he wouldn't be turned away. He knows it's a lot to dump on someone but…this is his sister. This is his blood. Would she really turn him around and push him out the door? Alison sighs as her eyes laid on Jason's muddy black boots, trying to play out the different scenarios she could take, one of them telling him to go screw himself.

"I'm not going to have you live out there while I have a roof over my head and fresh food in my kitchen." she slowly lifted her head to look at her older brother through her still slightly altered vision, "You can stay."

Jason lets out a large sigh of relief as if he was holding his breath that entire time after he asked, "_Thank you, Alison_." he gratefully replies with a small smile. He leaned in to hug her but feeling the sense of hesitation in the blonde's body language, he stopped himself with an awkward head nod instead. "Okay uhm… I'm just gonna get my bag that's downstairs." he stated almost in a way that he was waiting for permission to run and get it. He didn't want Alison to change her mind on him while he was out.

"Alright." she simply responded back.

Jason nods his head yet again and turned around for the door to let himself out. The moment he swung it open, Emily was right there on the other side, leaning against the wall facing the door with her arms crossed. Jason was a bit taken back by Emily's death glare being the first thing he saw but he just continued his way out into the hallway towards the nearest staircase so he can retrieve his things. Watching him leave the floor, Emily walks back into Alison's apartment, not noticing the apprehensive look she has on her face.

"The fucking nerve of him to show up." Emily growls with disgust as she locks the door behind her.

"Emily-"

Emily crosses her arms as she defensively stands in front of Alison, looking completely different from how she looked five minutes ago, "What the hell did he want?"

Alison lets out a small sigh, tilting her head to the side as she takes a moment to gaze at the ticked off brunette. It's amazing how "sober" they became the moment Jason showed up when not too long ago they were stumbling over each other and laughing like idiots. The reality is that they are not sober -they still held the same amount of alcohol they've always had- it's just that Jason's visit caused an adrenaline rush between the two of them which counter-reacted the drowsiness they had. So yes, they are still drunk, however, they are wide awake drunks now.

"He needed help…" Alison trails off carefully, watching Emily for the slightest bit of a reaction.

"Help with what?"

"He…he needed place to stay."

Emily scoffs unbelievably at the request. Interesting enough that Alison told him no since she watched him leave. "Well…" Emily uncrosses her arms and begins to walk past Alison on her way back to the bed, "I hope he has better luck over at his friend's h-"

"I told him he could stay here." Alison continued on with her sentence before the brunette had time to get the wrong impression and jump to conclusions. She knew the moment the words slipped out, Emily was going to showcase some kind of negative reaction. It was just a matter of-

"You what?!" Emily's booming voice travels before her body had the opportunity to spin around with her eyes widened to an extraordinary size, aimed directly at Alison.

_There it is._

Alison tiredly shrugs as she walks past Emily, keeping her eyes low to the ground to avoid having to hold any kind of contact with her while she burned. Although, understandable, Alison never witnessed Emily raising her voice like this at anyone let alone her. "He's homeless, Emily. I can't have him living on the streets."

"_Did we forget who Jason is?!_" Emily flails her arms as she followed Alison into the kitchen, feeling almost blindsided by her snap decision. After what they just went through; all the emotions and anger she had towards him, Alison allows him into her home without thinking about it. That did _not _sit well with Emily at all. "I-I-I….I don't understand! Jason emotionally and mentally abused you! Blamed everything on you and took no responsibility for himself and you're going to give him the right away to your place? Did-Did he bullied you into giving him a place to stay?!"

Alison leans herself against a kitchen counter with her back facing Emily as she hangs her head, trying to make sense of everything while Emily yells brassier than usual from either a genuine place or because she can't hear how loud her voice is. "He's not living here, he's just here until he can get back on his feet."

"And how long is that supposed to take?" the brunette defiantly huffs, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.

"I don't know, _Emily_…." Alison mumbled lowly before she pushed herself off the counter and faced her, "But he came to me because I was his last hope from him having to live in a shelter. Yes, I might _hate _him but at the end of the day, I cannot sleep now knowing that one day I could drive past my brother sitting out on the side of some building, panhandling for something to eat. I cannot sleep knowing that one day Jason might get jumped and left for dead with nobody knowing what happened to him. So, _yes_, he's a dick but at the same time, I'm not doing this for him."

"If not him than who?"

With her forehead crinkling tightly and her brows brought pointed towards the middle, Alison's eyes drift over to the side past Emily, staring at nothing in particular while Emily stares back at her. "_My mother_….." she lets out almost secret-like, "She's always made us promise her that we would never separate and that we'll help and take care of each other." Knowing that Jason could be at the door at any second, Alison strides herself out of her small kitchen and down the few steps towards her bed with Emily turning around to watch her, "I owe him nothing but this is the least I can do to keep that promise."

Then right there, with a response like that, Emily's aggression dissipates a few notches. Maybe being how the somberness in Alison's voice sounded or the fact that she's an only child and can't relate to code of protection siblings have with one another, Emily had no choice but to slow her roll down. Nonetheless, that almost guilt-like feeling didn't last when she saw the so-called "code of protection" as bullshit, seeing that Jason failed his only sister and left her in the world by herself. If Mrs. DiLaurentis made them both promise to look out for one another, why is it just Alison holding up her side of the deal?

"You made a promise to your mother, yes….." Emily walks down Alison's path and stands directly in front of her so she can fully grasp her words, "_but I didn't_."

Alison squints her eyes at the brunette with a draw of being surprised. She actually didn't expect Emily, someone who always knew what to say, to respond back like how she did.

"I wouldn't trust Jason to pump gas into my car even if I was on _empty_ and needed to be on the road immediately." Emily continues on her spew as she takes a seat on the edge of Alison's bed, lifting her lazy, heavy eyes up at the blonde with a warning finger raised at her and voice deepened, "I'm telling you right now, if he steps out of line, does _one little shit_ he better not do like not saying thank you after you give him a plate or blinking too long with the opportunity of his eyelashes –both top and bottom- having the chance to intertwine with each other, I'm _kicking._ his. ass."

…..

"It isn't a lot but it gets me by." Alison shoves her hands into her back pockets as she, Emily, and Jason stand towards the center of her studio. She points his direction towards the kitchen, "There is some leftovers in the fridge. You can help yourself to whatever you see." Jason appreciatively takes in Alison's hospitality, grateful for the open access to the food. He hasn't had a well tasting meal in a good minute. After a while, all the soups start to lose flavor when it's something you have nearly every day. Having something as plain as a well plumped, juicy burger was basically seen as a luxury at the point he was at. You knew you were eating well for the day when you were able to snag a 5 for $4 at Burger King. Alison watches Jason seemingly drift off for a second, looking at his dark, multi layered clothing with his black denim jacket rolled at his selves with a blue shirt, dark wash jeans, black boots, and beanie, you would have never guessed he was homeless with the fine clothing brands he wore. Granted, they were clothes that he was able to afford when he was more stable, he now looks like a guy that could pose in one of those magazines that tries to convince you that "lumbersexual" is a real thing.

"Have you taken a shower recently?" Alison questions, treading lightly as possible. She didn't want to embarrass him but the way his beard looked like scratchy hay-straws and his once luscious ash-blond hair struggled hit with dryness and strands harden by days old grease, it prompted her to asking anyway. Jason tightens the grip on his bag hauled over his shoulder, lowering his eyes from Alison and lengths away from Emily as he feel their gazes on him were condemnatory.

"…_No_…" he uneasily responded with a heavy, tight clench of his jaw. Now, feeling judged in between the two girls, Jason starts feeling self-conscious. He hasn't really showered in 3 days but if you count a few splashes here and there in the public men's restroom as a bath followed by a few spritz of his cologne, he's been doing really well for himself to get by.

Alison bit down on the inside of her bottom lip as she silently understood. She didn't want to make him feel bad about himself and started regretting the fact that she asked when she could have just offered the shower if he needed it. "Well, the bathroom is right there." she pointed to the closed door behind her, "There is some Dove body wash you can use along with shampoo, and conditioner. Take what you need."

"Thanks," Jason softly gives his appreciation before he decided to go ahead and make his way to the restroom, wasting no time to leave Emily and Alison by themselves as he locked the door behind him.

The girls stand in silence for a few seconds, not saying anything to each other except for their longing, hesitant looks. Alison twists her lips to the side in a small reflection as Emily blows out a hiss of an exhale, shaking her head from side to side.

"What are you thinking?" Alison keeps her voice hushed as she wraps her arms around herself, watching Emily remove her bomber jacket.

"What am _I _thinking?"

"Yeah…"

"A lot of things. But…if we're being honest," Emily falls onto Alison's bed on her back with a groan and her arms outstretched. Her eyes surveys the white celling for a brief moment before she closes them and talks just low enough that Jason on the other side of the door couldn't hear. "I'm just thinking about how the universe was against me this whole day." she grabs her jacket laid beside her and throws it on top of her face, covering herself for no apparent reason. "It is fucking unreal, if you ask me." her already whispered voice turns into muffles underneath the fabric.

Alison gazes down at Emily sprawled out on the mattress with an appointed stare. She cocks her head just a bit as she tries to understand what Emily just rambled. "What are you talking about?"

"Through all of what just happened…." Emily pushes herself forward and supports herself up on her elbows, almost sitting up straight but lost ambition halfway, "the one thing more alert than me right now is the alert, aching feeling that I _still _have and _been_ had way before we were…" Emily does a quick glimpse towards the bathroom nearby before she turns back to Alison with her voice now barely audible, "visited."

"_Em_…" Alison rolls her eyes as she turns away from the brunette. Just the mere tone of the feedback makes Emily push harder. At this point, she really has no shame and will result to blaming it on the alcohol for the exaggerated emotions if it backfires on her.

"_I can't help it._ I can't think clearly when my libido is on fire with you being the only one that can extinguish it." Emily complains as she attempts to win over the blonde with enlarged droopy eyes and a sad pout. Unfortunately, Alison holds her slightly friable composure to the best of her capability to not cave in. She couldn't help that Emily's needy face was absolutely adorable but there is no way they could blatantly engage in anything when the only thing separating her older brother and them was a measly wall. Emily goes from resting on the bed to slowly raising herself to her feet, waltzing herself to Alison.

"Fine, I'll say it….._I'm horny._" Emily nods her head with uplifted shoulders, making sure to keep her voice down now that she was treading among dangerous territories. She steps up behind Alison and places her hands gently on her sides, leaning into her ear with her with a raspy whine, "Like _really_ horny. I've been horny all day with no chance to release…" she runs her hands down the blonde's waist and glides towards her back, rhythmically tapping the tips of her fingers on the small of her back as she stood in closer to her, "_Baby_, what are we going to do?"

Alison regrettably hardens her jaw as she feels, all of a sudden, the heightened sensation from Emily softly caressing one of the few spots she knew very well were sensitive areas. It wasn't long before she felt a warm kiss on her neck to make things even more difficult for her. She's not going to lie, she probably wants it just as bad as Emily does but….they can't right now…._can't they?_

Impatient yet still tender, Emily turns Alison around so that she could see her face. She knows she's probably pushing it right now but she couldn't help it; she's beyond saving. She starts off with small pecks, just to see if Alison was going to stop her. Emily was almost certain that she was going to be forced to stop whether it's from her being pushed off or being flat-out told no but, to her surprised, Alison reciprocated the kiss with just about the same level of desire. Although, more cautiously, there was no doubt that Alison wanted to stop. Feeling a bit bolder now because of the reality of the moment, Emily slips her tongue in to Alison's mouth and within a few moments, their kisses became less timid and more thorough and passionate. The blonde returns the action avidly as she rests her hands on Emily's hips. Wanting her so badly that the ache in the pit of her stomach made her body jerk forward against Alison's body, Emily slips her hand around to tease the nape of Alison neck gently, pulling her in closer and closer. Exploring her with their soft tongues swirling as they feel each other's passion, Alison briefly breaks the moment by placing her palm on the brunette's chest to stop them from going forward.

"_What about Jason?_" Alison mouths as she motioned to the bathroom with her eyes. The shower water was just now being turned on and she knew that they were on a countdown rushing against him.

"He's probably going to be in there for a while….." Emily responds as she carry on her kisses with no ambition to stop, "washing, shampooing, conditioning…_we have time_."

Alison pulls back from the brunette again, ignoring her exaggerated sigh as she pondered quietly for a moment. They were literally standing less than 20 feet away from the bathroom door with the possibility of Jason opening it to ask her something. And if he did that, they would have to quickly separate from each other like two teens getting walked in on by an older sibling.

Which is basically what it is.

Emily drops her gaze and stares at Alison's warm hand on her chest. With her neck craned downwards, she extends out her tongue, wiggling it as she tries to reach for one of Alison's fingers as the blonde looked past her still in thought. Before Emily had the chance to reach her goal created through impatience, Alison grabs the front of Emily's tank by surprise and tugged her towards her small walk-in closet on the opposite side of her bed across from the bathroom.

"_Nooo_, I've spent too much time in there." Emily whines as she hardly puts up a fight, allowing herself to be dragged with Alison leading.

"Then you shouldn't have a problem with going back for a little while." Alison responds right back as she opened the door and yanked Emily in. The brunette clumsily stumbles into the dark closet as she closed the door behind her, tripping into Alison as they hit a wall, getting swallowed by her hanging clothes. Alison lets out a small giggle as she still held tightly onto Emily's tank. As the quiet laughter subdues, the girls attempted to gaze into each other's eyes but the pitch blackness of the closet made it impossible for them to connect. However, if Alison knew any better, she knew that Emily probably had this ravenous glint in her glassy eyes. She loosens her grip on her girlfriend and wraps her arms around her neck instead, feeling Emily's breathing body against hers.

"So, _Ms. Fields_…" Alison purred lightly, keeping her voice at an indistinct level since the only thing really separating them and Jason was a literal, connecting wall, "lights _on_ or lights _off_."

Emily places both her hands on Alison's hips, allowing them to slowly creep up her shirt and onto her warm skin shamelessly, "_Hmm_…do you know your way around with the lights off?"

"I think I can ride without training wheels now." Alison conceitedly whispers back. Although she can't see, Emily can _hear _the smirk on Alison's face with the sense of proudness in her remark. This makes the brunette smugly grin at the overconfidence because it sounded so adorable yet so sexy at the exact same time.

"_Oh really?_" Emily raises an eyebrow, taking her bottom lip in-between her teeth as she smiled.

"_Mhmmm_…" Alison silently chuckles before she pressed her lips together, bringing herself closer to Emily's face. They find each other in the darkness for a kiss when Alison is greeted by a tongue instead. Emily wastes no time as she pushed Alison's hips against the wall and moved her lips against hers. As Alison allowed Emily to have her way, there was something that was ruminating in the back of her head that she couldn't quite ignore. It's inappropriate timing, she knows but it was kind of bothering her more than it should. Emily dropped her head down to Alison's neck, guiding her way around-

"Did you really hook up with five different girls?"

Emily halts all movement as she played back the words she thought she heard Alison say. She raises her face to where Alison would be looking at her even though she could hardly see anything.

"_What?_" she whispered back confusedly. _"Wha-huh?"_

"Back at your apartment," Alison casually reminds her if she had forgotten already, "you said you were sexual with five other girls."

Emily stares into the void with her mouth hung open, still in her initial shock. Did she say that? She had the faintest memory of mentioning this but did Alison really feel some kind of way about it? Why would she bring it up right now? Emily shakes her head with a small laugh, "That was _so_ far in the past I don't even remember their names." she pathetically chuckled, somewhere hoping that Alison wasn't giving her a death stare, "But they're _insignificant_, Alison. They've _always_ been insignificant with you in the picture. I don't even think about them. _Ever_." Already working her hands on the front of Alison's jeans, Emily slowly pulls apart the button and trails her fingers to pull down the zipper as she leans into her neck, whispering her words into Alison's skin.

"You're the only girl that I want _mentally_…" Emily instinctively starting kissing her neck very gently, moving up to her earlobe, "_emotionally_…" gradually kissing across her cheek, "_physically_…." ending up at her lovely soft lips, Emily's right hand managed to slip past the opening of her pants, past the lacey fabric that covered the smoothness of what the tips of her fingers were now crawling down. She drew back ever so slightly, teasingly testing her reaction as she faintly started stroking in long and deliberate strides, "and _sexually_…"

It seemed like Alison was at a lost for words for a minute because from that moment on, Emily heard not a single remark come out of her afterwards. As she coasted her middle finger up and down leisurely, she could feel Alison's low irregular breathing on her lips. She had finally gotten her where she's wanted after being unsuccessful all day. Despite the fact that she would _love_ to spend her time working Alison into a soaking, dripping and sticky mess, Emily knew that she was racing against the clock to get what she's came after. Now, usually she is not the one to be rushed -especially in this instance- but all this did was spike her competitive drive. She _can and will _bring Alison to an orgasm in six minutes or less.

Matter of fact, she can probably get two out of her in 10 minutes if she really wanted to.

Emily pulls down Alison's jeans along with her cheekys with a few forceful tugs as she dropped to her knees. Bundled up at her ankles, Alison helps alleviate the inconvenience of discomfort and tries to kick off her bottoms so that she wasn't restricted room to move along. She's able to get out of one pant leg swiftly when she feels Emily's firm grip on her thigh, lifting up her free leg to give her all the access she needed. Alison braces herself with a quiet deep breath as she carefully rests the ball of her arched foot on Emily's shoulder.

_Ah, the Promised Land_, Emily amusedly thinks to herself. Without any further delaying, she leans in and causes a soft sigh to leave Alison's lips when the first contact is made. Alison wavers in her standing position, trying to keep balanced when she reaches up with one hand and swats her clothes that hung over her to the side to grip onto the cold, mental railing tightly.

Emily kissed her outer lips and slid her tongue along her whole length before she trickled back up to finish on her clit. Gently sucking it inside of her mouth, this sends Alison on an incline ride straight to the top as her struggle to not moan increases. At first she stood silent and still, then, with every stroke of Emily's tongue, she rocked her head from side to side, breathing heavily with her eyes closed and clasp on the metal above her getting stronger and stronger.

Emily delved further into her, faster than slower, teasing her only to satisfy. The momentum gained pace as she wrapped her arms around her thighs and pulled her body against her face to be closer and deeper. Flicking her tongue in different directions, lapping up and down the lips that began swell, she feels Alison squirm as she persists. Once cautious because of the traveling noise, Alison throws her head back and bites down on her bottom lip as she tries her hardest not to make a sound. She wobbles and bounces a bit as she felt her balance getting tougher to maintain. With her elevated thigh gaining a tremor to it, she slides off and hangs her leg over Emily's shoulder as she presses her free hand on top of the brunette's head, pulling Emily into her even more.

Her core was now soaked from her juices and she couldn't help but gasp when Emily started moving faster. All Alison could do is sway and whimper lightly at this point. Her eyebrows were now squeezed towards each other while her fingers were tightly gripping onto Emily's hair as she felt all control starting to leave her. Working her girlfriend from a hunger she had to conceal all day, Emily wished that she was able to see the current state of Alison's face. She wanted to witness Alison trying to hold back but weaken with every passing second. She wanted to witness how the graze of her flat tongue made Alison stand a little bit higher on her toes every time. But, as a substitute with the lack of lighting, she uses their past experiences to create an idea of what her face might look like by the sounds she was making.

There is a small tango between the two as Alison leaned her back against the wall whilst Emily inched forward in a mirroring movement so that she doesn't disrupt the rhythm she found herself in. Swirling her tongue around and around, causing everything to swell to the touch, she gets her wet enough for her to slip her finger inside of her to accompany to more sensations. She could feel Alison's muscles tighten as she dipped her middle finger and curved it to find that little spot to softly roll over.

"Oh…_fuck….fu…ck!"_ Alison whines through a strained whisper as she massages the top of Emily's head. She knew she was getting close fast and in the back of her mind she told herself not pull on the railing too hard in fear that she bring down the whole side of her closet. Just as Alison loosens her grip on the metal, Emily slurped her vigorously into her mouth, causing Alison's only standing leg to buckle tremendously.

A sudden, sharp inhale was made then silence. Nothing but the fluid sounds of Emily's tongue mixing against Alison's wetness. The noises, followed by encouraging hums from Emily below her sent Alison to a place of no return. Letting out a low, desperate moan, Emily knew it was time. Alison had let herself go for her, all defenses of where she was or who was on the other side of the wall left and she became totally engulfed in the moment.

In that instant, Emily held tightly onto the leg draped over her shoulder as she grabbed Alison's other leg and lifted it onto her other shoulder as she stood up. Alison's eyes shot wide open, letting go of the railing and frantically holding onto Emily's head for support to keep from falling as she was blasted out of her arousal and was boosted into the air.

"_Emily, no!"_ Alison quietly cries out from shock as she quickly reached up for anything to grasp onto. Unfortunately, that same metal rail that was her support system was now something she was raised above - all of this while Emily doesn't miss beat; still eating lavishly from their new position.

All of the sudden, familiar words started circulating in her head. Words that she thought had no meaning until now that she has found herself her dark closet…

With no pants…

Pressed against a wall…

Her legs over Emily's shoulders…

And Emily's head in-between those said legs.

"_**Plus!**_** She's a **_**swim-mer**_**. That means she has a lot of stamina **_**and**_** coordination. And strength! **_**Have you seen those arms?**_**"**

**"They have drive."**

**"They want to improve every day. They can't be satisfied with their last performance. That also includes bedroom performances…**_**Challenges**_**."**

**"They're focused."**

**"They know what the main priority is at hand. **_**And that's an orgasm**_**."**

**"They have commitment." **

**"They won't stop **_**until**_** you have an orgasm." **

**"They have to be adaptable."**

**"Different positions."**

**"And they understand time management."**

**"**_**Beep.**_** Times up. Next position."**

"_Oh god, oh god_." Alison whimpers as she bounces slightly from Emily getting comfortable, supporting her back with both hands.

Jason stands under the showerhead, letting the hot water stream down his chilled body. It's been a while since he felt such heat on his skin. He almost wanted to stay there, unmoving, and melt away with the water down the drain but he didn't want to be inconsiderate and have Alison's water running for so long. He smooths his hair back and reaches for the bottle of body wash when he hears a thud. He halts all movement and wipes the water out of his eyes, trying to compute where that sound come from. He lifts his eyes to the celling, wondering if the sound came from the people above Alison's apartment. Waiting to see if he hears the noise again as the seconds pass of quietness, he figures that maybe either Emily or Alison had dropped something – something minor.

Alison sticks out her chest as her eyes rolled back, running her fingers through Emily's scalp with the brunette's mouth being relentless and unforgiving. Emily hears Alison mutter something through her hard breathing but doesn't quite pick up what she's saying. Still, she works her tongue now anxiously all the way through when then a shudder passes Alison along with her muscles tightening. Her legs clamped against the sides of Emily's head as her whole body stiffens and breathing stops. Seconds later, Alison releases a strangling gasp while her long-awaited orgasm struck right through her. She opened her eyes and looked down at Emily, gripping her shoulders just before her eyes rolled over for a second time in ecstasy, closing again with her back arched forward. More silence was met before she let out a long moan, exhaling heavily for 20 seconds to catch herself. Emily rides Alison through her orgasm until she was back to level one, greatly enjoying the trip she just brought her on. Finishing on her end, she brings Alison back down to the ground carefully, making sure she doesn't drop her. Alison's legs wobble slightly as she blinks away the stars she was seeing. Never in her life has she experienced something like that and she didn't know how to properly react. As Alison was trying to contemplate her life up to this point, Emily pulls her chin into her, kissing her deeply as she latches onto Alison's tongue. Holding her still for a kiss, Alison uses her auditory senses to hear if Jason was still in the shower. If the water was still running, they would be able to have some extra time on their hands while the energy was still high.

"_Indulge your sense with this exclusive blend of soothing Tahitian vanilla bean oils to instantly nourish and moisture, while silk amino proteins strengthen and seal your hair's cuticles, revitalizing your hair, creating silky, smooth shiny hair…_" Jason reads to himself as he holds one of Alison's shampoo bottles in his grasp. He flips over the medium sized bottle to look over the back before he opens the cap and squeezes a decent amount into his palm. He raises his hand to his nose to take in a whiff of product.

_Mmmm…it does smell like vanilla,_ Jason nods his head, pleasantly surprised at the alluring scent of the shampoo. He bows his nose back into his palm for another inhale._ Damn, this smells good. _

Letting go of Alison's bottom lip with a tug, Emily smiles into Alison's mouth as she leans her forehead against hers. "You liked that, baby?" she asked in a honeyed and husk-like murmur.

"_Yes_…" Alison lets out a drawn out hiss as her breathing went back to normal. Her fingers trace the fabric of Emily's track pants before she innocently tugs on the drawstrings. Emily pulls her in for another passion filled kiss when Alison's hand slips past her waistband, past her shorts underneath and caresses her way down. Her free hands slides around the back of brunette's neck and pulls her in - their mouths open as Alison rolls her tongue onto hers, feeling Emily relax against her fingers as she allows Alison's exploration.

"_You like this, baby_?" Alison whispers as she softly kisses Emily's check, trailing a slow pattern of figure eight's on her swelled nerves.

"Oh, _I'm going to_." Emily readily responses back with a smug laugh. This causes Alison to giggle with her in unison, still being able to keep things light in this haze of desire.

….

The doorknob of the closet slowly turns followed by a hesitant push, just enough for an eye to look out into the distance to see if the coast was clear. The door opens a little bit wider with Alison poking her head out carefully like a meerkat, checking the opposite side of her apartment. While inside the closet handling risqué business, they heard the shower water turn off. _Well_…not Emily. She was too far gone somewhere with her eyes closed, reeling into her already pre-occupied, lust clouded brain. Alison did, however, and that's when she realized the final countdown had begun. She could have sworn she heard the guitar riffs and keyboard of Journey's song blaring in between her ears when it did. Seeing Jason nowhere in sight with some time to act completely casual, Alison quickly stepped out of the closet smoothing down her hair while Emily followed behind her still tying the front strings of her track pants. Alison treks towards the kitchen with a brief pip in her step as she tries to put distance between herself and Emily when the bathroom door opens, releasing out a veil of steam before a cleaner less rugged Jason appeared.

Alison spins around in sudden surprise before she gave a small smile towards him, "All done?" her voice raises up to a friendly, unsuspecting level.

"Yeah. Thanks for, uhmm, letting me use it." Jason nods as he rolls up his old clothes and shoves it into a compartment of his bag. Stepping out in a clean grey t-shirt and loose red shorts, Jason zipped up the bag and walked towards the opposite side of Alison's apartment where the couch in the living room was located. He looked over to his left side and caught a glimpse of Emily watching him with not so warming eyes - almost locked on him. From the time he's seen Emily in the past but he's never seen her so seemingly worked up and unamused about something and it was definitely beginning to rub him the wrong way. Another question that made its way was why she's still here? Jason assumed that she would be gone by the time he got out but seeing her still lingering around was interesting, to say the least.

_Were Alison and her supposed to have some kind of sleepover that I crashed or something…? How the hell did Ali link up with Emily Fields after all this time? They weren't even friends._

Emily plops herself on the right side, her side, of the bed and leans back against the headboard. She's always had this thing about sleeping on the side closer to the door for security reasons. If something were to happen and/or someone were to get inside the apartment, Emily would be able to jump up and fight them off, giving Alison time to run and help in some way. She felt a huge wave of tiredness after their secret physical exertion but she'd be damned if she fell asleep first. No matter how exhausted she is, eyes needed to be kept on the newest DiLaurentis member joining them.

Deciding to make herself busy, Alison opens her fridge doors, grabs some food that she had lying around, and starts the process of re-heating it in the microwave. She looks over to Jason sitting on her couch, shuffling through his things and calls out for his attention. "You can help yourself to whatever if you're hungry." she politely reminds him as she reaches for a plate in one of her high cabinets. Jason raised his head and silently nods, acknowledging the access before he went back to his things. Long quiet seconds pass with movement coming from Alison in the kitchen. Just before Jason got up to find something to eat, he does a double take at his sister walking towards her bed with a glass and plate in hand. With Emily lounging in bed with her hands behind her head and legs crossed at the ankle, he watches her give the plate of food to the brunette before she crawled onto the mattress, going to the empty side next to her with her drinking glass. Something felt off but he wasn't sure exactly what. As he stood on his feet and walked himself to the kitchen, he kept the thought still circulating in his mind.

_The way Emily just laid there, eyeing me like she owned the place and I was a foreigner. The way that Alison made her something to eat, although I didn't hear her asking for anything. The way Emily took a defensive like position against me….why is she so comfortable here? And why does it seem like Ali is…catering to her? Alison caters to exactly no one. No one but herself._

As Jason lost himself in a whirlwind of thoughts, Emily takes a bite of the subway sandwich Alison heated for her. The hot mixture of bread, sauce, and meatballs coasted down her throat satisfyingly and she couldn't have asked for anymore. Although she didn't ask for the sandwich, she caught onto the smirk-fueled laughter Alison gave her as she handed her the plate. Without anything being exchange but a small eyebrow raise, Emily took the sandwich knowingly and enjoyed the hell out of it.

Alison took a sip of her cold water before she leaned over to her night stand and set it to the side. If Jason wasn't here, what probably would have occurred by this time is that they most likely would have been on their second round by now. When they would have finished, they would have went straight to sleep in each other's arms, awaiting the potential, massive hangover the following morning. However, with the change of plans, there they laid in bed with Jason soon to be sleeping right across from them on the couch. Alison knows 100% that Jason has no idea about them. Nobody in her family does now that she thinks about it. And because of that, she felt a bit hesitant about certain things….Emily being one of them. Because she was definitely staying over for the night, Alison was cautious about doing anything remotely close to showing affection with Jason around. But whenever she got those isolating thoughts, she can't help but think about everything she's been through with her, all the sessions she's had with Dr. Elliott and how far she has come from her old self. Those remembrances right there is what brought her back to reality. She wasn't going to hide herself, denounce Emily and all that they were for _Jason_. She's worked too hard to get where she was now just for her to sweep it under the rug because she feared what Jason would think. Alison had to constantly remind herself that she's her own person and has to explain herself to exactly no one. If Emily was strong enough to face her friends about how she felt about her, then why can't Alison show that same strength towards her? Someone who has been there for her more than she has been there for herself? Even in a drunk stage where she talks freely to everyone because she thinks she's among friends, Emily has been the best thing that has happened to Alison. Because of this, she will never let her go because she knew that she had hit the winning lottery ticket. She didn't win a small prize with Emily, she won the whole damn Powerball.

_I'm going to tell Jason about Emily and I_, she thought to herself as she started climbing underneath her sheets. However, they were going to have to sleep in opposite directions just for the night. She's going to tell him but when the time is right. Just not right now.

"_Goodnight._" she leaned up and whispered in Emily's ear, keeping her eyes locked on Jason who had his back facing them as he fixed himself something to eat. With him unable to see, Alison reached over and gave Emily a kiss on her cheek as Emily chewed and had her sights narrowed at Jason as well. Alison catches onto her unfriendly stare and nudges her with a push of her elbow. "_Be nic_e."

Emily continues to munch on her meatball sandwich as she felt Alison adjusting next to her. She sneaks a hand underneath the covers just to grab her hand, pull it out, and raise it up to her lips to place a small, loving kiss on the backside, silently signifying her goodnight response. She doesn't say anything but Alison smiles at her for a brief moment before she slumped down into her pillow and got ready to close her eyes. She would stay up longer to talk to Jason but it was now a struggle to keep her eyes open. She just hopes that while she's sleeping, nothing bad happens between Emily and him.

…..

With the silent awkwardness of Jason and Emily still awake while Alison slept, having no idea about the time without her phone -which she put somewhere- Emily just coolly laid with her back against the headboard and her eyes half open yet still focused on Jason. Across the room, Jason finished with his food and got comfortably on the couch he was given. Nevertheless, as time passed on, he swore his extra senses were picking up something he wasn't caching onto. Turning his head towards the bed where Alison slept, through the lack of light, he couldn't tell if Emily was staring at him or if she was sleeping. Nothing was said between the two all night but the air floated uneasily for some reason. Getting herself inside the sheets well, everything inside of her fought to not fall asleep and to wait after Jason knocks but her body wasn't going to allow it. Tiredly, Emily throws an arm over her eyes as she tangled a leg with Alison's, just to be touching some part of her for the night.

…..

When the morning time rolls around, Alison was the first one of them three to wake up to a small throbbing sensation in her temples. The sun outside the window threatened to peek its blaring, bright rays from behind her curtains but, luckily, the dark fabrics kept the room at a respectable dark level that didn't burn her eyes upon opening them. Although not completely regretting her decisions from last night, Alison's hangover sat at about a four with her mouth needing at least 12 gallons of water just to quench her undying thirst. She felt like wrapping herself in a cocoon and snuggling in bed all day but she knew that was the opposite of what she has to do today.

…..

Emily groggily rolls over and throws her arm next to her to wrap herself around…._wait_….Emily squints open one eye to see that she was lying in bed alone. She wringed her neck quickly in the opposite direction when a throbbing ache smacked her square in the face, causing her to wince in pain. The all-too-familiar woozy, disoriented feeling came rushing back to her and at that exact instant, she knew she was about to visit hell all over again. Barely able to move her legs, Emily growls to herself as she grips the sheets under her, "_Whyyyyyyyy_…." she groans out to the celling with her eyes tightly shut.

The sudden ringing of glass clank against each other along with movement coming from somewhere in the apartment correlates into crashing cymbals inside of Emily's tight and drained head. She holds the lower half of her face in both hands as she slowly opened her eyes, pushing past the pain that sat in the back of her eye sockets. Adjusting to her surroundings, she lazily rolls out of bed and drags herself straight to the bathroom. Her bladder was pressing against her stomach and she felt like she had to pee like a racehorse.

_I swear I hate drinking…I really need to stop._

Alison takes the last of her small collection and places it in the paper bag sitting on her kitchen counter. She does a quick double take around the area to make sure she's not forgetting anything before she squeezes the two full paper bags in her arms and places it on the floor by the door.

Last night felt so surreal on so many different levels to Alison. Part of her wishes that most of it was something made up from her dream. Unfortunately, waking up earlier before everyone else, the reality smacked her harder than her hangover. She walks back over to her kitchen and swipes her cold water bottle by the sink, twisting off the cap and swallowing a mouthful before she rested her back against one of the counters. Alison mindlessly taps on the plastic as she slowly zones out, looking out into her studio with her mind in complete disarray.

…

Emily washes her hands and skims them up and down on her tank to dry as she reached for the door. Immediately, she was greeted by a hairy male DiLaurentis staring right back at her with his hands in the air ready to knock. Emily is startled for a split second, not expecting to see Jason so close, so early in the morning. She waits until he steps over to the side for her to walk out. The brunette moves right past him, not uttering a single word. Not even a polite 'good morning'. Jason looks over his shoulder at Emily and her attitude for a still moment before he mentally scoffed to himself and walked in, closing the door behind him.

Alison watches the interaction between the two and can't help but feel the unsaid tension. It has only been less than 10 hours and there was already a visible level of dislike that they both had for each other; Emily disgusted and Jason annoyed. She doesn't know how it's going to work but if Jason is staying over, they're going to have to find some mutual level of decency before it's more than just looks that they exchange.

"Have you seen my phone?" Emily groggily shuffles into the kitchen rubbing her sore, low eyes.

Alison nods her head towards her kitchen bar where Emily's cased iPhone laid face up, plugged into a charger. Emily reaches over to grab it, disconnects, and turns on the screen to see the time.

"Damn, I gotta get out of here." she tap away at the screen to open the notifications and texts she received over night, "I told Jack that'll head with him to pick up some supplies before my shift."

Alison crosses her arms, cocking her head to the side as she gazes at Emily, "At least your hangover wasn't as bad a last time. You're not throwing up."

"Last time we were taking shots called 'Adios, Motherfucker'." Emily chuckles as she looks up at her phone briefly to look up at the blonde, "That wasn't a hangover, that was near death experience. This one is going to be a pain in the ass, though." she yawns with her arms outstretched over her head, rising onto her toes as the ends of her tank show off a small portion of her toned abdomen.

Alison chews on her bottom lip as she lets a few seconds pass before she decided to speak with her voice now low, "I can't help but think about what the hell got into you last night."

Emily locks her phone with her eyes going back to Alison, "With what?"

"_You know what_." Alison lifts her head as she looked down at Emily with narrowed eyes and a small smile dancing on the corner of her lips.

"No, I don't." Emily leans over the black granite countertop with a sly smile, pushing her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she wiggled her body from side to side, "_Tell me_."

Alison opens her mouth to speak just when the bathroom door swung unlocked. Both girls turn to see Jason step out, glancing over at them momentarily as he walked towards his things besides the couch. Emily's grin gradually morphs into a twisted, pouted face, seeing that their little moment was interrupted yet a-fucking-gain. She lets out a sigh as she pushed herself off the counter.

"Well, let me start going…" she groans. Scanning the apartment, she spots her jacket on the edge of the bed and begins walking towards her belonging, mentally asking herself if she brought anything else over last night.

….

Jacket tied around her hips, shoes on her feet, and phone in pocket, Emily stands by the front of Alison's door with her to say their goodbyes.

"I need you to do a favor for me, please." Alison quietly asks. Emily furrows her eyebrows in curiosity as to what the request is and why Alison was whispering. The blonde points with her eyes to the paper bags by the door, "Can you take those back to your place? I…I can't have them here."

And with just that, Emily fully understood her bid. Without saying anything, she nods and crouches down to pick up the two hefty bags into her arms.

Alison gives an appreciative, small smile to the brunette, running her hand down her flexed arm. "Call me when you can, okay?"

"Always." Emily smiles back, "If you need anything, let me know."

Alison nods in understanding and leans into press her lips into Emily's for a sweet peck of a kiss. Silently giving their goodbyes to each other, Alison unlocks and opens the door for Emily and watches her step out into the hallway, making her way to the elevator down the hall. She waits for her to disappear into the elevator before she closes her door. A long sigh was sounded as Alison pressed her hand into the door.

_Time to get back to her new situation._

Alison treks her way back into the main center where Jason sat on the couch, eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes as he focused on the television he had on low. He peels his eyes off the TV and notices Alison and her apprehensive, worried-like face, not sure what to make of it.

"Morning." he greeted after he swallowed his spoonful.

"Morning." Alison acknowledged back as she wrapped her arms around herself. She stands on the outside of the bar counter facing Jason, watching him eat while unknowing where to go or how to act for all that matter.

"Why was Emily over?" Jason questions as he moved around his cereal with his spoon, "When did you come in contact with her?"

Alison sucks in a deep inhale before she tries to mentally strengthen herself. _It's just as you practiced….put it down and say it. _

"She stays over whenever she pleases because….because we're dating. _Officially_."

Jason nearly chokes on his spoon as the flakes rushes down the wrong airway, causing him to sputter, "_What?"_ his voice comes out in a weak croak, "Dating? You're not…You let Emily-"

"Let me lay down some rules for you now that you're here." Alison adjusts her posture as she hardens her jaw and stares directly at Jason, unflinchingly. "Emily been there for me during times when I really needed someone, so _her name_ and _criticism_ stays out of your mouth." she sternly commands, "You, _of all people_, have _no room_ to make a comment or have _any kind_ opinion towards _anything_ going on in my life."

The harshness of Alison's words makes Jason clench his jaw shut to prevent from saying anything else. It's been a while since he last remembered her speaking to him like that, talking _at_ him with a sense of power and control as if she ruled over him. However, he takes her words with a silent nod as he looked down at his bowl in his hands.

Alison stands tall, expecting some kind of rebuttal from him but is met with nothing instead. This is a pleasant surprise giving how conversations like this in the past would end up turning into a screaming match. She almost wanted it to escalate to that point so that she could really release her inner-pent up anger towards him. As an alternative, she lowers down her guard since she now realizes that she wasn't going into battle. Not just yet.

"…I don't know what you've been doing all these years but, rule number two," Alison softens up just enough to leave out the resentment but keep the firmness in her tone, "there is no alcohol allowed in my apartment."

Shaking his head, Jason chuckles out a single small laugh to himself, slowly raising his eyes back up to Alison with a pointed gaze, "Is that why you gave all your alcohol to Emily? You think I'm gonna drink-"

"I really don't know what you're capable of these days, Jason." Alison snaps back before he had the chance to make her doubt herself, "You're either going to stay sober or stay out. Those are your only two options here. I am _not _playing that game with you."

Alison and Jason hold each other's eyes in a silent stare-down. Not protesting against her, Jason gazes into his baby sister's charging blue eyes for the first time in a shamefully long time. Although the last time he saw her was nearly half a year ago at Thanksgiving, he actually took in how much she grew from Rosewood. She's blossoming into a strong young woman that he always knew she would take the form of. But, this strong is different kind of strong. He always imagined Alison growing into an older version of her younger self; someone who commands a crowd with just a wave of her finger. Yet, this strong is a…empowering strength.

She almost resembled their mother in several ways which made a chill go through him at just the thought.

"_Do you understand me?_" Alison authoritatively reiterates herself, waiting for a confirmation from him.

"Yes, Ms. DiLaurentis." Jason answers firmly as he began to mix around his cereal once again, "I hear you."

….

_Two Days Later…._

_Today 6:44pm_

_Alison: _I think this goes without saying but I can't come over

_Emily:_ Why not? I had our monopoly game set up and everything :'(

_Alison:_ I'm sorry but I just can't leave Jason here by himself like that.

_Emily:_ He's a grown ass man Ali. He doesn't need a babysitter

_Emily:_ Besides you leave him alone when you go to work/school. What makes this any different?

_Alison: _When I'm at work, he's out at this program so he's not home neither. But I'm not saying he needs a babysitter it's just that I can't. Not right now. I'm still laying down things.

_Alison: _Please understand.

_Emily:_ I get it. I don't like it but I get it

_Alison:_ Thank you. I promise we'll make up for this.

_Emily:_ Yeah well I hope so

_Alison: _:(

…..

Faint sounds of silverware hitting the surface of plates create the only noise coming from either siblings. Dinner time had rolled around this Monday night and not much has been said in a form of conversation. Their past moments in the last few days have been minimal, small talk at best but they have yet to dig deep into issues they both know sit between them. Alison was hesitant about bringing anything from their past up, not knowing how to even start the dialogue so she had avoided it.

Until now.

She can't hold back anymore.

"What have you been doing ever since you've left?"

"Just…going through the motions of life, honestly." Jason shakes his head, keeping his eyes down as he spiraled up a fork-full of home-cooked spaghetti, "Going wherever it took me."

"Which were the streets, apparently." Alison mutters to herself but ended up being louder than expected. Instantaneously, she felt a little insensitive about making that comment. Nobody willingly ends up homeless. But at the same time, he had things going for him. He shouldn't have just thrown it away.

"Everyone has their low moments. Not saying I'm proud of them." Jason says more hushed and quietly than before.

More silence passes before Alison speaks up again, this time going straight to the source of their disconnection. "Do you realize how much you impacted my life after mom died? How much you damaged me as a person?"

"I'm… I'm sorry." Jason continues to keep his eyes low, now just playing with his food instead of actually eating it. "That was a dark time. For all of us."

"You surely didn't include me in "all of us" back then." the smart remarks start to fly, this time with little remorse coming from Alison. She shouldn't feel bad. She's spent enough time "feeling bad". Now, it's about feeling unchained.

Jason stops moving his fork. Trying to keep himself as calm as he could, he leveled his voice to stay collected. "I don't think you realize how much I was hurting-"

"She wasn't just your mother!" Alison cuts him off with an angered snap and hands now balled into fists, "I was hurting too. Why could you not see that?"

"I had no emotional support after mom died!" the aggression flies out of Jason's mouth as he drops his fork with a loud clang onto his plate. Him and Alison recreate a more intense stare-off then earlier as he breathing started to quicken. "_None_. You had plenty of friends that you could call on in a second to provide deep emotional support. Women in general have that. _Men do not._ No male friend has ever put their arm around me and told me it's going to be ok whenever I feel like I'm suffocating. All throughout life, I don't know any guy I could cry to or just depend on if I'm feeling down and desperate. Dad hardly did that for me. I was and I am handling everything _by. myself_." Jason slams his fist into his thigh for emphasis after his last words.

"That still gave you no reason to put me down the way you did! The things you said you didn't have are the _same_ _things_ you deprived me from!"

"Alison, do not sit here and act like you wouldn't have done the same shit to me!" Jason's gruff voice booms over Alison's and creates a stillness throughout her apartment, "If the shoe was on the opposite foot and you found out I somehow caused mom's death, you would have _NEVER_ allowed me to live that fucking down. You would have held that over my head until the day I died."

"No, I wouldn't have!" Alison shoots back. The screaming match that she knew was going to come finally arrived.

Jason's eyes widen in shock as he leaned forward into the table, stunned at the blatant lie that came out of his sister's mouth, "Who are you playing! _Yourself?_ You've done that kind of shit to everybody. That was the norm for you. If news got to you that mom died because I got into an argument with her and forced her to drive off-_fuck_," he tosses his hands in the air with his head cocked to the side and eyes squinted, "Why do I have to create a scenario when you did that to me daily? Whenever you'd find out some shit about me, _oh_, it was gold served very cold to you. You'd blackmail me and blackmail me until I can't take it anymore and have to snitch on myself so that you didn't have anything on me. Do not act like we are cut from different cloths because the fact of the matter is we're not. We are the same people and you know this, Ali."

Alison holds a deep glower as she took in everything that Jason had hurled at her. If there was anything that she hated more was divulging on who she used to be. That Alison died along with her mother and hearing Jason bring everything up in an argument against her brought about mixed emotions. Mostly anger at this moment. Jason lets out a long sigh while he bowed his head. He's been working on his anger and the last thing he wanted to do was blow up when he tried everything in his being to remain levelheaded.

"But all of that…it's in the past and I want to keep it back there." Jason's voice came softly, dripped in sorrow and regret. He smoothed back his shoulder length hair before he picked up his fork and goes back into his food that he didn't plan on wasting. "Whatever I've done to you that made you feel like you were small, I am sorry. I am _honestly_ sorry. You have obviously grown and so have I. We both went through some life changing experiences and I just want to put that behind us."

A deep crease appears on Alison's forehead as her chin began to tremble much against her will. She didn't want her eyes to well up the way they were because she didn't want to make him think she was crying sad tears. That was far from accurate. She was pissed.

"You don't care about me, Jason." she declared through her gritted teeth and skin that drew tight around her narrowed eyes.

The blond sulks with another distress-filled exhale as he lifts his eyes to meet hers fuming ones, "Why would you say that?"

"Because you don't. You've proved that to me time and time again."

"Alison, _I love you_. Sometimes, through our bickering and fights it may not seem like it but you're all I have-"

"You're only saying those things so that I would still allow you sleep on my couch and not tell you to go _suck a dick _before the door slams in your face." Alison spits out a venomous blow ending in a tight jaw clench. Jason is rendered speechless by Alison's flagrant comment. She's told him off in the past but to '_suck a dick'_? That was something she's never said to him and sitting across her at her small dining table, he didn't know how to react or even reply to that. He swallows down hard as he keeps himself composed. _She has a right to be upset_, he tells himself.

"We are both damaged kids that grew up to be damaged adults. I am _trying_, Alison." Jason's defense comes out almost as a plea. Through his thick, scruffy golden blonde beard housed a wary frown as he tried to make his case. "I _really_ wish you would understand that. Look at me. I am 26 years old male who looks 40 with everythinggoing left for me. I know-"

"Jason, I am happy now." Alison leans into the back of her chair with her eyes closed. Jason quiets himself after being cut off for what seems to be the eighth time tonight and allows Alison to continue with whatever she had to say. "I'm with a girl who…cares about me more than words can even describe. She goes out of her way to nurture me, to appreciate me, to cherish me and show me what it feels like to be valued. To be someone's number one prize. All when she doesn't have to." Alison looks down at her hand, staring at the faded sharpie writing of _"E+A=4ever_" underneath the length of her thumb. One day while Alison was handling a phone call, Emily was mindlessly drawing on her hand and made a temporary tattoo for her. The blonde runs her fingers over the barely visible penmanship, remembering not only that moment but all of their time spent together. "There isn't a day that goes by that I think that she's too good for me and that I should break things off. Because, in the words of my older brother –which was uttered just last Thanksgiving-, '_Nobody would ever want to be around me because all I do is bring pain to people_.' Well, you know what?"

Alison stares at her brother with a cold, inexpressive scowl as she pierces into his green eyes, making sure he's fully attentive to her next words.

"Fuck you." the language rakes off her lips like a bullet blasting out of pump shotgun, ripping a chunk out of her victim. "Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, Jason DiLaurentis." she jabs her finger in the air in Jason's direction, "_Fuck_. _You_. I just wanted you to know that if you had any inkling that we're going to easily sweep everything under the rug, remember these words I'm telling you right now. Fuck you for everything that you've done to me."

Jason slowly nods his head, bowing with strands of his hair falling down his face as he solemnly rests his eyes on his food that has probably gotten cold by now. "I'm glad you were able to get that off your chest…" he replies gravely.

"And it felt fucking _good_." Alison hisses unapologetically as she pushes out of her chair, grabbing her plate and glass of water and strides into her kitchen. Unfortunately, living in a studio, she wasn't granted the luxury of being able to go into a room and slam the door. The next best thing she could do is put her half-eaten plate in the fridge, her glass in the sink, and march over towards her bathroom, swiping her phone off her bed as she places distance between her and Jason with a wall. Now by herself, Alison takes a deep breath as she hovers over her sink. What she just did, what they just went through happened so fast, she still couldn't grasp the fact that she said half the things she did. But no, she's not going to doubt herself and consider remorse for her actions.

_You're right, Alison. That did feel fucking good._

**Jason is trying to put the past in the past, Alison still feels the stings of his actions, and Emily is just awaiting for the golden opportunity to have a reason to attack.**

**How will Trouvaille end?**


	31. Chapter 31: Otjánbird

CHAPTER #31: Otjánbird

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Emily push opens the staircase door with her shoulder as she reaches Alison's apartment floor. "I know you have the capability. I know it's in your reach and it would _really _mean a lot to me if you can just…come through."

She slowly waltzes herself towards the middle of the hallway with her phone raised to her ear with one hand and a bag-wrapped object in the other. Stuck in a call, she wanted to handle everything before she actually got to Alison's door.

"Yes you can. No-yes you can. Don't say you can't because I know you can."

Emily stops in her tracks just to stand idly in the empty hallway with her voice bouncing off the walls. She listens carefully to the other person on the line before she rolls her eyes and tilts to her head to the side.

"_Come on_."

…..

"What are you talking about? I do like that stuff!"

…..

"Well, you must not pay attention because I do."

Emily swings her arm back and forth with her eyes mindlessly staring at the polished tiled floor as she takes small baby steps down the corridor.

"Come on, _please._" she begs as she sees Alison's door in the distance. With mere seconds of silence, Emily spins her body around in the opposite direction with an exasperated sigh. "Why would you want to see me so unhappy? I thought you said you didn't like it when I'm sad." she replies gloomily with a push of her bottom lip.

…

"I'm pouting right now." she frowns even harder with a trembling chin and puppy eyes as if her caller was standing right in front of her. Seeing that her forced sadness didn't do the trick she wanted, she turns up the fire just a few notches hotter.

"_Baby_…" she drops her voice down to a small whisper. Immediately after, she fights the wide smile that tries to spread across her face and ruin her act.

…

"_Baaaaaaby_, _pleeeeease_!" Emily flat out whines as her eyes scan the hallway to make sure she was alone in this pathetic time of begging and desperation. Suddenly, her ears perk up. She stands completely still as she soaks up every single word that floats out of the other line.

…..

An inaudible gasp leaves Emily as she bounces up onto her toes, "_Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" _she rambles out as she grins ecstatically from ear to ear. She stops herself mid mini celebration to catch onto the clarifications.

"Okay."

…

"Okay."

…

Nodding enthusiastically, Emily giddily finds her voice to respond back. "I love you." she patiently waits for the reply but ends up scoffing unbelievably with a slick smirk. "I _do_ love you. You know this."

…

"Alright, I'll be looking out for it."

…

"Okay."

…

"Love you." Emily sings with a beam of anticipation to hear it back. All it took was a brief moment before her Emily grew to the charming words uttered back to her. "Bye."

After hanging up her call, Emily hisses out a silent '_yes!_' as she jumped in the air with a definite fist pump. Everything fell right into place and she couldn't be happier. Granted, this was spontaneous and wasn't her intention at all but when opportunity strikes, you have to chase after it until your legs give out from under you. Emily comes back to reality and collects herself as she nears Alison's apartment. Lowering her breathing rate and hiding her excitement, she takes a few seconds to herself, placing the wrapped object behind her back before she knocks on the door.

There is movement on the other side of the door before it swings open to a bright-eyed Alison, staring at Emily with contained eagerness that was seconds away from revealing itself.

"Did you get it?"

Emily shrugs indifferently with concealed emotion, "Did I?" she pulls out the plastic bag wrapped around some kind of rectangular object from behind her back. Alison's eyes expanded larger than life to the point Emily was pretty sure she saw her pupils dilate. She thanks her elatedly and reaches for the bag when Emily pulls away and raises the gift above her head.

"_Ah, ah, ah_…." Emily shakes her head which ultimately disrupts the tunnel vision Alison had. "You have to work for it first."

Alison raises a skeptical eyebrow as she crossed her arms defiantly, almost showing her disdain at the game Emily tried to play. "I am not going to jump up and down like a child."

"Well, I guess you're not getting it are you?" Emily upholds her careless attitude, "I'm pretty sure there are other students that'll gladly jump for this."

Alison upholds her resistance as well, not budging a muscle.

Emily sighs out as she brought the bag back down, fishing her other hand inside her back pocket for her wallet. "Well, thankfully I have the receipt. I'll just return it and get my hard earned money back."

"_Emiiiilllly!_" Alison throws her arms down at her sides as she shakes out of frustration. She didn't want to jump like a five year old but at the same time, she doesn't want Emily to turn around and actually return her gift. Emily lifts her hand again and wiggles the bag in the air for her entertainment. Alison glares at her for a moment before her eyes drifted upwards. She gives a small bunny hop but Emily rises it higher out of her reach.

"_Are you serious?"_ Alison narrows her eyes with her complaining, now unamused by this whole ordeal.

"Don't you want it?" a smile finally makes way on Emily's face. It was a harmless game of teasing. After the money she spent, this was the least thing she could get out of it. _Well… _Emily corrects herself, _actually, the least I deserve out of this is for her to-_

Yanking Emily out her thoughts, Alison jumps up, holding onto Emily's arm with one hand as she rips the bag out her grasp with the other. Emily shakes her head with an exaggerated roll of her eyes as Alison ridicules her with a victorious, smug taunt, finally getting what's hers.

"That was so cute." Emily chuckles as she closes the front door behind her and locks it.

"Whatever." Alison ignores the made comment as she examines the way Emily took two plastic bags and wrapped it around the merchandise, tying a knot on the side to make it look like a mystery surprise.

The brunette scrunches up her face and squints her eyes, "_Whatever_." she mocks Alison's voice before she lifted the blonde's attention from the bag to her, pulling in her chin for a kiss. They share a few short lived pecks before Emily lets her go and Alison leads them towards the center of her studio.

"I wasn't going to gift wrap it or anything so you have to deal with the way broke people present their gifts." Emily warns her as she walks behind, kicking off her shoes before sending herself straight into Alison's bed, dropping into the bouncy mattress with a comfortable sigh after the long day. "Merry Christmas."

Alison stands in front of Emily as she unties the knot and pulls apart the white plastic bags until a preview of black carrying case was exposed. This caused Alison to quickly shed the rest of the coverings until she held the black case with a white and green box cover in her hands.

"48 vivid colors." Emily grins proudly as she recites the description she remembered reading off the craft. "Perfect for fashion design."

Alison flips over the _Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Markers _case and looks over everything with her mouth still hung open in amazement. "Thank you!" she looks back up at Emily with an unbelievable laugh. "This sells for like $150. How did you…?"

"Don't thank _me_. Thank the coupon saving I had because if I didn't have that, you would be getting a handshake for a gift." Emily rests her hands on her lap before a devious twinkle in her eye appeared. "But, after going through _all that trouble_ getting you your markers…" She flips her dark hair to the side, almost dramatically, before she settled her sights on Alison. "I would _like_ to get a little _something_ in return. You know, something to show your appreciation."

Alison's eyes leave the marker case and pop up to the celling with her tongue pressing into the side of her cheek. She turns her head to look at Emily who stares back at her with her head bowed so that all could be seen was her dark eyes and creepy smirk of a smile. "And what would that be, Emily?"

Emily lifts up her head and loses her grin just to grab her left thigh with a groan, "To get the best massage bar you have and help me soothe away my aches." she frowns with now sad eyes as she rubs the exposed skin under her shorts where her tense muscles were. "I had leg day yesterday and I'm just about regretting my life choices right now."

Alison couldn't do anything but laugh at Emily's sudden change of emotions, not expecting her to flip to those words at all. She nods with perked lips as she reaches for her phone in her pocket. "Looks like you need the Hottie Massage Bar to alleviate those sore spots."

"Is that what you recommend Ms. Alison, Lush employee? I really need this to work as soon as possible. _I cannot live like this_."

"Oh, I can put that to work on you." Alison side eyes Emily with a flick of her brow, smugly smiling at her as she scrolls through her phone.

"Satisfaction guaranteed?" Emily's grin sidles back onto her face.

"Only the best experience by yours truly."

"Now, you're just being a tease." Emily sucks in her bottom lip as she scoots farther into the bed while Alison takes a seat right next to her. With her phone now pressed to her ear, she grabs Emily's leg by the ankle, lifting it up gently to place onto her lap. At first Emily didn't know what she was doing but quickly fell into line when she felt the tips of Alison's fingers graze her skin and thumb kneading into her calf muscles. A wince of a sigh floats out of Emily's mouth before she relaxes, lying flat on her back on the mattress.

"Guess what?" Alison asks in a gossip-like tone, dripping with excitement.

Emily lifts her head up to look at her, "What?"

Alison glances down at her with a silent headshake, showing her phone to tell her that she was speaking to someone else. Emily presses her lips together with an embarrassed nod before she rested her head back into bed. She lets the small massage continue on with no resistance from her. This was the first time Alison ever did anything like this and it was pleasant. Normally, she'd be the one to give the shoulder and hand rubs but to have it done in return was something that made her pathetically smile to herself. Something about her laying there with Alison mindlessly tending to her body while on the phone made her feel a certain kind of way. Not a way she could really articulate at the moment but it was almost casual. Like second-nature without even thinking about it.

In that instant, Emily saw her future flash in front of her eyes.

Her and Alison living together somewhere in a quiet and calm neighborhood. She comes home from a ruthless workout because today is Thursday and on Thursdays, it's conditioning. After taking a shower and throwing herself into the bed face first, groaning loudly, Alison comes into their room with a plate of food filled with carbohydrates and protein along with a hot towel. It has been a long day for Emily so she just wanted to at least make the remaining hours as comforting and restful as possible by taking care of her.

And with that thought, that future starting becoming more ideal and desirable in her head…

"-I know, it was so sweet of her to do, honestly." Alison chats away on her phone call as she varied the location of her hands on Emily's lower leg. "I've been eyeing these things for a while but never had the money to buy it. I always have to buy the small 12 set at Office Depot but they go so quick for $40. But here she came," Alison diverts her eye gaze at Emily with a taunt of a smirk, "walking in like some kind of champion and brought the second largest pack for me."

Through her closed eyes, Emily conceitedly nods her head with her tongue sliding out from between her teeth. Massages _and_ bragging about her to her friends? Alison would have to stop right now before she got any cuter.

"It's like $150 on Amazon. And that's without the shipping and taxes."

…

"I don't know. Maybe she paid it with drug money."

"_Great_." Emily huffs out with a flail of her hands thrown in the air, "Tell _everyone_ my business, why don't you?"

Alison giggles quietly to herself, "Amy says hey."

Emily opens her eyes and props herself up on her elbows, "Hiiiiii, Amy!" she calls out enthusiastically like a long time school friend. Alison moves the phone from her ear and clicks it on speaker, balancing the phone on her shoulder as she now uses two hands to massage Emily's leg.

"We totally need to hook up with a double date, guys. You two with me and Jack at Dave and Busters or something." Amy suggests, gaining exchanged looks between Alison and Emily.

"Jack, huh…?" Alison drops her eyes back to her lap, "It's official now?"

"You're not the only who can snag a hot bartender, Ali." laughter could be heard on the other end of the phone which mad Emily smile to herself. _Hot bartender? Is that what they all refer to me as when I'm not around?_

"But we're taking things slow right now and so far, I really like him. He's triple the man Evan ever was."

"That's because Evan was a boy, Amy. He was a little boy in a man's body."

"Yeah, well Jack puts him to shame. We should plan things, though! Let's all go out one of these nights and just have fun."

"Oh, that reminds me." the lightbulb flashed in Alison's brain as she picked up her phone laying on her shoulders. She carefully places Emily leg to the side before she stands up. "I have to check to see if my order came in. I'll be right back."

Emily lets out a dramatic sigh as she sits up straight. She was just getting into the mini massage and didn't want her to stop. Just as Alison walked towards her kitchen counter to grab her keys, the bathroom door opens beside Emily. Alison and Jason make brief eye contact as Alison leaves while he wipes his face with a hand towel – trimming his ragged beard into something neat before his eyes divert to Emily sitting on the bed.

The front door opens and closes, leaving Emily and Jason alone together for the first time.

"Hey."

Emily glances up at him for half a second and nods. Putting a barrier between him and her, she pulls out her phone from her pocket and begins tapping on it as if she was intentionally doing something.

"What was she going on about?" Jason curiously asks as he throws the white hand towel over his bulked shoulder.

"Brought her some art supplies."

"Oh really? What kind?"

"Markers."

Jason notices the black case left on the edge of the bed. Although, too far to see what it says, he remembered hearing what Alison said when he turned off the sink water. "They were expensive, huh?"

"Well, she needed them so…" Emily carelessly responds back. To Jason, it sounded as if Emily would rather get dragged behind a train, swallowing every rock that flew at her face at full speed than to talk to him. However, he's still going to try anyways. If she's going to be an important factor in his sister's life, he should at least know exactly who she is.

"So, Alison told me that you guys have been dating for a good, solid minute now." Jason leans against the bathroom door frame as he casual stroked his face.

"We have."

"She seems happy with you. It's…It's pretty warming to see."

"Well, you have to be gentle when you're dealing with a fragile and broken girl." Emily lifts her head up, looking out into the distance, visually ignoring Jason's presence standing right next to her, "My main priority is to show her happiness since I'm the _only_ thing she has."

"_Okay_..." Jason drops his head. He really is trying but Emily keeps swatting him at every turn as if he was an annoying fly that just won't go away. How is he supposed to stay here when Emily is over constantly and has an attitude every time he shows his face? This is a studio apartment. He doesn't have many places to go unless he hides in the bathroom or closet every time Emily comes over. But, no. He isn't going to do that. Emily is going to have to deal with him whether she likes it or not.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot-"

"We've been on the wrong foot since the moment I found out what you did to Alison." Emily bites back before he had the opportunity to make his case. All throughout this conversation, she still doesn't look at him.

"There were a lot of bad blood we shared in the past. Things you don't know about. Things Alison won't tell you. But we're moving past that and starting new." Jason holds off for a quick second, looking down at Emily with soft eyes, "And I want to get to know you a bit more."

"Too bad I'm not Alison." Emily lets out a single humorous chuckle as she scrolled through one of the apps on her phone.

Jason's soft eyes narrowed into aiming ones as he pushed himself off the frame of the bathroom door, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," Emily locks her phone as she swings her legs off the edge of the bed, twisting her neck to stand face to face with Jason for the first time. She holds a commanding stance with not a nervous bone in her body. She was ready to make her mark, and make sure he fully understood. "If you do anything to hurt Alison again, especially since she let you back into her life, you and Ali's bad blood is going to look like a game of tag compared to the animosity that will stand between us."

An eyebrow raise comes out of Jason upon hearing Emily's attempt at intimidation. The side of his mouth raised, showing half of his teeth as he gave her a cunning smile. "_Funny_. Aren't I supposed to be saying that to _you_? Since _you're_ the one dating _my_ sister? You're the outsider coming in to our family." he let his voice fall to a whisper as he leaned into Emily, shaking his head, "It's not the opposite way around."

Emily smiled a silent laugh as she tilted her head to the side, not once letting her eyes divert from his, "_Funny_. Interesting how that word magically appeared in your vocabulary all of a sudden. You don't know the first thing about Alison today and who she is."

"Well, Emily," Jason rolls back his shoulder, standing tall as he firmly planted his feet underneath him, "_I'm here now_."

"Well, Jason," Emily takes a bold step forward in Jason's space, not caring how close she got, "So am I." _Bitch._

Heat exudes off her body like a radiator as she glares up, deep into his eyes, past the green waves and into the empty void of his soul. Although he has a bit of a height advantage over her being 6'0, they face each other down like two UFC fighters at a weigh in, standing so close that a horizontal bible had just enough space to be wedged in-between them. All that was needed was for someone to throw the first punch and they would be in a full blown fist fight, both from either side getting good hits in. Jason keeps Emily's gaze, not daring to back down to a female who is years younger than him. No matter if she's dating Alison or not.

"I would write that down if I were you, in case you forget." Emily snarls with a dark smirk that barely was noticed. They never had the opportunity to talk ever since Jason was here but now that Alison was out temporarily, this was the perfect time to give the older brother an uncensored piece of her mind.

Jason's forehead wrinkled distastefully as he checked the brunette up and down with a scoff, "Don't threaten me."

Emily swayed her head to the side with her eyes widened and brows hired, still holding her warning smile. "Oh, you thought that was a threat?"

"It was." Jason mimicked her and cocked his head in the same direction.

"You thought that was a threat?"

"Sounded like one."

"That wasn't a threat at all." Emily firmly shook her head and pouted as if she was defending herself from a simple case of misunderstanding. "In fact…It was an act of consideration. Cautioning you of what the possible future will look like if you decided to be anything less of a good brother to Alison." Emily clicks her tongue, lifting her finger up a wag as she shakes her head in means of correcting herself, "No, not good. _Great_. _Magnificent_. _Superb_. _Fucking A."_

Jason rolled his tongue behind his tightly closed mouth. This was almost humorous to him. He knew what it was like to be the person who was defensive towards on-coming problems when it came to his past girlfriends but this was a whole different level of protection. Emily was talking to him as if he was some good for nothing, slime on the wall stranger that Alison pitied and gave a place to stay. Every sibling in the world fights. Especially if you have enabling parents, it is almost certain that you're going to have blowouts; some grander than others. _But what would Emily know? She's an only child._

"If I said something like that to you, made a menacing _act of consideration_ about treating my sister right or else….how would you react to something like that?"

"I'd say _fuck you_." Emily smiles sweetly, although the sweetness was laced with toxic poison, "You can't tell me shit." Light on her toes, Emily rocks gently from side to side, the adrenaline now rushing through her. She nods her head with her grin still shinning and eyes locked in an otherwise deadly battle. In several countries, staring someone square in their eyes is a form of disrespect, boldness, and/or a challenge of authority. Emily wanted to showcase that she was saying _fuck you_ in every way possible.

Jason smiles as well, the corner of his lips extending across his face in an interested manor. He nods in understanding as he pouts, captivated by his new situation before going back to a softer smile. With every gesture Jason made, Emily mimicked, showing that no fear while she continued to sway on her feet. The seconds grew longer as they smiled at each other in silence, just waiting for Alison to return back to a standoff scene. But as they tested each other, Emily felt herself start to tremble involuntarily.

_Please, do something. Please. Give me a reason to stomp your ass right now. Jason, make my day. Make my fucking day._

"Heh." Jason chuckled out as he was the first one to drop his gaze.

Right then, if Emily wasn't in her right frame of mind, she would have used his intruding breath on her as an assault and swung a heavy right into his jawline. However, she had to blink several times to keep herself on the correct and sane path. Jason side-stepped and walked right past her, a hair away from brushing their shoulders in the movement. Emily finds herself clenching her teeth furiously as she followed him with her eyes, imagining the 20 different ways to strike him all within three seconds time. Jason walks past the edge of the bed, looking down at the marker case Alison left behind. He picks it up to examine it and Emily feels her senses quickly leaving her. She didn't want Jason's dirty hands touching anything she brought. But somewhere deep down inside, she feels like he's doing it for that exact reason.

"Thanks for buying Ali the art supplies, by the way." Jason appreciatively acknowledges, saluting the case to her before he flipped it around and read the details of the product. "It's, uhh…actually very nice of you." he glances back up at the brunette with yet another head nod, dropping the markers back onto the bed.

Emily watches Jason casually walk to the kitchen and open Alison's fridge, scanning the contents inside for a moment before he pulled out a cup of yogurt. Closing the fridge, he does a small jog down the three steps connecting the kitchen and arctic entrance to the main center of the studio and strolls to the couch, plopping himself down with a sigh. Emily hasn't moved a muscle and stares straight across at Jason peeling off the cover of the snack and propping the container to his lips, slurping it deliciously.

_Disgusting fuck, _she thinks to herself…..even though she is one of the same people who, too, tend to slurp the creamy goodness out of a yogurt cup when she's too lazy to use a spoon but because Jason's doing it, it's repulsive.

From a never ending train of silence, the front door clicks and swings open to reveal Alison finally arriving back after being gone for what seemed like forever. Luckily, she didn't walk into Emily and Jason squaring up, circling each other with their fists ready for the opposite person to swing first because they were seconds from doing it. Still on the phone with Amy, Alison kicks off her scandals she threw on and walked down her apartment, shuffling through the envelopes of mail in her hand, completely oblivious to the thick air of tension she walked into.

…

Alison turns on her left turn signal, waiting for an opening before she drove into a decently occupied parking lot attached to some kind of building. She pulls up to the front entrance before she placed her car into park and turned to look at Jason sitting in the passenger seat.

This was a routine thing she did nearly every day and it was to drop Jason off at his program.

"You know you have to talk to dad, right?" she notifies him calmly. Looking straight forward, Jason rolls his eyes as he clicks himself out of his seatbelt.

"_Right_. Like that's happening anytime soon." It seemed like everyone in the whole family had issues with each other and it really made it hard for everyone to function in peace. If it wasn't Alison and Jason it was Jason and their father. If it wasn't Jason and Kenneth, it was Kenneth and his mother-in-law who probably held the number one title for the most hated relationship. Alison just shakes her head and dug her hand into her front pocket, pulling out a silver key.

"After work I'll be out with Em so I should be coming home a bit later than usual. Whenever you get done, just let yourself in. You still have the MetroCard?" she asks and gets a 'yeah' back in return. Alison extends her hand out to pass him the key before she pulled back right as Jason was about to grab it. "Please do not lose this key, Jason."

"I won't." he assures her with a small laugh as Alison places the piece of metal in his palm. "Thanks. Enjoy your date with Emily."

Alison gives a polite smile when Jason unlocks his side door and hops out. She watches him hook his bag over his shoulder and walk from the sidewalk to into the building before she puts her car in drives and heads out.

…

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Alison adjusts the black satchel purse on the crease of her arm as she stands patiently on the opposite side of Emily's door. Being told to dress "causally comfortably" for their date, Alison slipped into navy blue and white striped summer dress that stopped right above her knees. With her black pumps, black purse, and blonde hair curled over her shoulders, she wasn't sure what to expect this evening. However, being told it was going to be "_Under the Stars_" gave her a small glimpse.

Before knocking again to make sure she was heard the first time, Alison raises her hand just when she heard the door unlock and swing open to find a cheesing Emily leaning against the frame.

"_Well, well, well…_" Emily chants as she eyes Alison up and down with no sense of secrecy. Wearing her own attire of a white dress blouse with dark jeans and red ankle socks, Emily fluffed her hair to the side before she stepped over with her arms extended. "Welcome."

Alison entered with a smile as she walked into the dim lighted apartment. Seeing that Emily was already ready except for her shoes, she figured she would have to grab a couple of things before they leave.

"So," Alison begins, watching Emily grab a device from her couch, "are you going to tell me where we're going or are you going to keep it a mystery?"

"It's not a mystery. It's an evening _under the stars_." Emily smiled mischievously as she pressed on a few buttons.

The look of confusion remained on Alison's face. "What does that mean?"

"Under the stars, _Madam_." Emily sings formally as she pockets the small electronic before she held her hand out for Alison to grab "Under the stars."

The confusion quickly warped into disorientation when Emily walked Alison into the apartment towards her stairs when they were supposed to be walking out the door.

"Uhm…aren't we…?" Emily lightly shush Alison as they continues on, her heels tapping on Emily's hardwood floor. She leads Alison up her stairs where the sound of very faint music became clearer and clearer with every step they took to the upper-floor. All Alison could do is let out an easy, light-hearted laugh as she hits the last step and strolls after Emily into her bedroom.

Completely pitched black with the only thing on being a portable speaker Emily had placed in somewhere in the room, Alison stares in wonder at some kind of creation placed before her. There were sheets hung up and connected to various parts of furniture that were brought together with layered blankets to create a big sheet castle. Something that looked like it took dedication and time to make and a simple "whoops" to bring the entire thing down.

As Emily ushered her toward the construction as if telling her she must enter, Alison continued to giggle as she bends down and places her purse on the outside of the fort before she slipped out of her pumps. Emily awaits for a few seconds before Alison places her hand inside hers and allows her to take the lead.

"I present to you an evening…_under the stars_." Emily pulls up the blanket that hung over the opening of the fort and give her the notion to crawl in first. Everything just felt so child-like to Alison at the moment but she couldn't help but to continue smiling. However, her smile turned into a quiet gasp when her eyes graced the inside of Emily's blanket fort. Soft glows of pink, blue, and green pulse to illuminate the fort from LED light tapes that Emily secured on the top. Handmade fairy jars with bright neon colors and fake plastic candles were placed in the four corners for character, along with fluffed out pillows and more blankets to cover the hard carpeted floor to make sitting more comfortable. Alison moves carefully into the fort and takes the left side while Emily goes to the right sit across from her.

"I really wanted to take you somewhere nice. _Somewhere fancy_." Emily voice sounds almost apologetic as she begins to defend her actions from a complaint that wasn't there. "But I was checking my account and…I literally have _no_ money to spend." Emily lets out a sad laugh. "I'm so sorry."

"Emily-"

"But I'm still saving up my tips-"

"_Emily_."

"And I'm even working more hours because the last thing I want is for us to-"

"_Emily!_" Alison calls out her name loud enough to stop her from rambling on. Emily pipes quiet as Alison extends forward to grab her hand. "I don't need you spending any more money on me, okay?" she rubs her thumb back and forth on the softness of Emily's skin, "I don't care if we eat somewhere fancy, in a pillow fort in your room, or even behind a building in an alley. As long as I'm next to you, I don't care where we are or what we're doing."

Emily's concerned look fades into a smile as she drops her head down to look at their hands. Deep within her, for some reason, Emily felt that she needs to impress Alison all the time. Not only because her bright smiles is the most rewarding thing she could ask for but because she's Alison's first when it comes to an actual romance where it wasn't one-sided but mutual on both ends.

Alison's eyes go past Emily and stares at her surroundings, intently capturing every small detail Emily worked ever so hard on. "_Wow…_You know what this reminds me of?"

"No. What?" Emily interestedly shook her head, ending in a tilt as she gazed back at her. She was lying. She knew exactly what this reminded her of.

"Harbor Park." Alison turns back to Emily with a smile full of pure admiration, "Where we had our first _totally date_."

They both let out a laugh as Emily couldn't help to hold in her smile after hearing the way Alison said _"our first totally date". _After it dies down, Emily shakes her head before her eyes drift back up to the girl in front of her.

"You've always looked good under lights. Habor Park…the rooftop…even the moonlight from the window after you made love to me." Emily tells her quietly as she feels herself getting mesmerized by how the colorful glows are shinning on the side of Alison's face just right. "You looked like a goddess…and still do right now."

There was nothing Alison could do to hide the reddening of her cheeks at that moment. Emily always knew the right worlds to make her blush. Sitting in the fort with a playlist Emily sat in complete solitude and heavily debated on for an hour and a half, switching back in forth between the right songs to create an ambience, she had the mood set for the evening playing lowly in the background. However, if you weren't pay attention or talking, you really couldn't catch onto the words being sung unless you stood quietly still and focus on the music itself.

And from the sounds of it, a new song blending from the previous one appeared to be _Unthinkable_ by Alicia Keys.

"And by law," Emily clears her throat, "I am required to tell you that I want to capture this astounding moment with you on camera. So, if you don't mind, I would like to hit record now."

Alison's eyes skim around for Emily's camera that she had mentioned. She didn't notice it before so she figures that Emily hid it somewhere. Putting her eyes back on Emily who was smiling patiently, Alison gave her the green light.

"Press away."

Emily happily and carefully crawls out of the fort and into her room. It was then when Alison noticed that Emily had her camera on a tripod, peeking inside, camouflaged by blankets and lights. Shaking her head, Alison closes her eyes and sways slightly from side to side as she listens to the melody floating all around her. She knew how meticulous Emily would be at times and if anything, she chose this song among the others for a reason. They were words she was trying to say.

"_You give me a feeling that I never felt before…"_

After a few more seconds, the entrance of the fort opens as Emily makes her way back inside.

"I just realized that camera of yours has captured a few of ours firsts." Alison states as goes from sitting on her knees to laying her legs out to the side, smoothing out the ends of her dress. "You had it for our first kiss, our first date…" Alison's eyes widen in a heart-dropping realization before she snaps her head up in Emily's direction. "I swear to-"

"I did not record us having sex, Alison." Emily giggles out a heartfelt laugh from her wide smile. Alison's face cooled down ten degrees in relief as her body visibly relaxes after getting stiff all of a sudden. In that split second, she saw her life flash before her eyes. Then her hands around Emily's neck.

"But maybe I should have…" Emily stroked her chin with a mischievous grin and a curious brow. "That way I could watch it _whenever_ I wanted to. Pop it in the Blu-ray, grab a snack, and have a movie night."

Alison lunges forward and begins throwing playful punches at Emily's arm; light enough to be playful yet but hard enough to show seriousness behind her words. "Don't play like that!"

"_I wouldn't! I wouldn't!"_ Emily laughs out as she tried to deflect Alison's wild fist throwing by shielding herself. The hits only last a few moments more before Alison gives her a shove to the side to end her assault. "Besides that wasn't even our first time." Emily continues laughing, regaining her balance as she fixes her now wrinkled shirt that she ironed before Alison arrived.

"Well, it was to me." Alison lets out a huff as she fixes herself as well, making sure her hair was still intact with a quick comb through. "I don't count _that _night as our first."

"Really?" Emily interest was now piqued at this revelation. She knows that to her, she wishes that night never happened, just as she told Spencer. Not that she didn't enjoy herself with Alison but in a way that it sucked the special moment of having that "first time" with someone. But hearing that Alison felt similar, she didn't feel the need to kick herself anymore.

Alison nodded with a small smile. "The second time meant something to me. It was…how it was supposed to be. Something memorable."

Emily's tongue finds itself pushed against the bottom of her mouth as she became somewhat bashfully, keeping her eyes on the blonde before dropping it with her smile growing harder at just the thought of that night.

"Well, I hope this night can be in your memory hall of fame." she glances back up at Alison who looks back at her with a beam of her own. She loved to make Emily speechless to the point all she could do is smile and look away. It was wildly adorable. "Which brings me to the next part of our time together." Emily remembers before she turned her body around a grabbed a piece of paper that had fancy sprint typed on it and handed it to Alison, "Here is a menu, complimentary of the chef. Pick whichever you'd like."

Although Emily was broke and had them camped out in her room like kids, she gave her an A+ for effort, commitment, and overall creativity for this dressed up occasion. She scales the paper with her eyes as she goes along with the charade. It was going to be an interesting night, she could tell.

"_Hmmm_…I think I'm going to go with the _Pizza Treatza_…? That sounds appetizing." Alison pokes out her bottom lip with a head nod as she looks the list up and down one more time before she passes it back to Emily.

"Ah! Great choice. I, myself, am going to get the _Dunk 'Em's_." Emily points out before she excuses herself once again with the menu in her hand and crawled right back outside of their little escape pod.

"Interesting choice of names you've came up with, I must add!" Alison leans over towards the entrance so Emily could hear her since she doesn't know how close or far she has walked. Sitting alone, Alison folds her hands in her lap and looked around, eventually stopping at the camera angled downwards at both of them. Knowing that its recording and that Emily was going to watch the playback, Alison began making funny faces in its direction from sticking her tongue out to pulling her lips inwards towards her gums until only her teeth showed, doing her own quick impression of Jim Carrey's Fire Marshall Bill character. It wasn't long before the blankets opened again and Alison instantly fixed her face back to normal just for her to let out an unbelievable gasp.

"_Oh my goodness, Emily."_

"This is all I can really afford right now! _But_, I promise you they're as good as you remember." Emily made her way with both her hands grasping two small trays with food inside them. She happily passed Alison her five-star meal while she set hers down to the side. "Although! If I do have one thing…" Emily maneuvers herself to poke her head and arms out of the fort for a brief second before she leaned back with two glasses filled a little less than half. "It's the best wine for my best girl."

Alison graciously takes the glass into her hand, being extra careful not to spill it on herself or any on Emily's sheets or pillows.

"I'm going to take you to a real candlelight dinner soon, I promise." Emily's voice drops a few notches somberly with a small trace of her smile still lingering on her face. Although she's happy Alison is taking this spontaneous night pretty well, a part of her felt embarrassed about what she had to offer. Alison looked so beautiful all done up with her dress and heels, expected to go somewhere nice and all she gave her was a pillow fort with fake plug in candles, jars filled with glow in the dark paint, and snacks a mother would put in her child's lunchbox before she kicked him out the door to go to school.

_How romantic…_

"Lunchables and wine under the stars, candlelight, and soft music?" Alison takes a pinch of the assorted rainbow chocolate chips that came with her food and throws it into her mouth, chewing approvingly, "Nobody has ever thought to wine and dine me like this."

"Well, I hope I have created a good first impression." Emily eyes stare down at her lunch tray as her smile lifts but only halfway now. In no way was she going to crash her own party but her pessimistic thoughts slowly started to really get into her head. _I could have done better than this. I could have done better._

"You've made an amazingly great impression and I absolutely adore this." Alison answers back, almost responding to Emily's negative judgements as if she could hear them. "It's beautiful. Just like you."

Emily lifts her head to find the bright glow in Alison's eyes accompanying her warm smile. That rewarding smile. Emily returns the gesture, ripping herself out of her mind frame in order to not ruin their night.

_No._

_This night is important._

….

As time went on with the consumption of wine and the slow eating of the Lunchables to savor the taste of the bite-sized food, Alison and Emily laughed and talked about their how their week has been treating them. From classes to work to their co-workers to what they saw on TV, they really enjoyed their conversations and being alone in each other's presence. When they were done with their 'hand-made pizzas' and barbeque dipped chicken nuggets, Emily offered to collect all the garbage to throw away. Alison stuffed wrappers into her small tray when her fingers rubbed against something on the bottom of the plastic. Just out of reflex to see what she touched, she lifted her platter in the air and did a double take when she noticed a tapped, folded piece of paper attached.

"What?" Emily asked as she noticed the hesitation.

"I think you just might have brought one of those prize winning boxes." Alison jokes as she delicately peeled the tape off to prevent the paper from ripping before she got to see what it said.

Emily lifts the bottom of her tray as well just to see it bare. "That's no fair, I didn't get one." she pouts unhappily, watching Alison unfold the paper.

"It's probably a free coupon or something. Nothing too big of a deal." Alison unfolds the piece a paper and reads through it with her eyes. Emily waits for some kind of reaction from her "free coupon" when Alison instantly covers her mouth that had fell open. Her eyes dart up to Emily to the paper back to Emily then back to the paper as she rereads everything every carefully to make sure she's not playing tricks on herself.

"Y-Y-Y…_You got tickets to Fashion Week in New York?!" _Alison's words fly out of her mouth in at a hasty speed yet hoarse and low volume, almost losing the breath she needed to speak.

"I know the big time New York Fashion Week past us in February and won't happen again until later in September but I've been told New York: Resort is just as big and important. Plus, you'll even see there celebrities too."

"_I…? How…?"_ Alison still stutters inside of her shock bubble, not understanding what's happening. "How did you get this? Some of these shows aren't even open to regular people like us." she finally pushes out, reading the printed out email of verification and list of designers that would be attending.

"Let's just say I know people in high places that love me very much." Emily licks her lips before she up-turned them into a sly smirk. "That's one of the reasons why I don't have funds to spend. I do have money in my account and I am taking extra shifts at work but that's all because I want to make sure we have at least _some_ pocket money for when we drive up to New York."

"Why did you do this?" Alison finally stops to look up at Emily, her face a mixture of confusion and happiness. Shock yet delighted.

"Same reason why I brought you those markers. I know how serious and faithful you are to your work, why not take you to where the great ones are?" Emily casually shrugs. "Give you inspiration, show you where you could be in a few years with hard work and persistence? Fashion students all over the world _dream_ to go to Fashion Week and you're right next to it. _Why not?"_

An overwhelming passion suddenly comes over Alison before she lunged forward at Emily, throwing herself at her causing Emily to fall on her back with Alison laid between her legs on top. Emily's hands reflexively landed on Alison's backside, holding down her short dress to make sure it doesn't fly up while Alison gives her repetitive kisses on her lips. Emily couldn't help but giggle as Alison cups her face and kisses her everywhere from her lips to her nose to her cheeks to her forehead. After her love attack, with their faces inches apart, she looks deeply into Emily's brown eyes.

"_We're going to New York!"_ she whispers ecstatically as her whole body shook with excitement.

"Yes we are, baby." Emily returns the enthusiasm, caressing the small of Alison's back as she gazes back at the gorgeous beauty on top of her with the pink and blue glows of the light shadowing her face like fine art. Alison bows down to kiss Emily again but slowly this time, really feeling her lips against hers while her rapid heartbeat thumps onto Emily's chest.

….

Laying comfortably on their backs with their hand intertwined, staring up at Emily's lights, Emily and Alison quietly lay still with each other in time. One of Alison's leg rests in-between Emily's while they float within the tender notes of a soft and slow piano that took them out of Emily's room and placed them somewhere in the clouds together.

_Otjánbird Pt. II by Spheriá. _The second installment of the series that Emily couldn't wait to play for Alison the moment she discovered it. It brought her peace. Just how Alison does.

The faint sounds of birds blended into song brought Emily to a warm yet still day. No winds, no blaring noises from the city, just a nearly-empty beach underneath a swirl of an orange, pink, and purple sky as the sun slowly loses itself in the distant horizon. A little ways away from the shore, after their splashing adventures and swimming lessons, teaching Alison how to be comfortable in the water, Emily sits behind her on their rented surfboard. They bob with the motion of the waters while Emily has arms wrapped towards the front of Alison's hips just to hold her hands as they both watch the sun go down.

This song-induced vision became an instant 'to-do' on her bucket list with Alison. Go to the beach and stay there past sundown until the stars come out and fill the night sky. Just laying out on the sand, enjoying being young and free in their own worlds.

Within Alison's mind, she stands before a slightly open window holding a hot cup of chamomile tea as she watches a group of little kids chasing each other down the sidewalk with scooters. Their screaming and laughter fills the street with a few cars passing through the one-way. So far she has met three people in their surrounding area and has felt an easy vibe to them. A friendly neighborly vibe that she'd hope to receive. She even got invited to lunch for one of these days but a perky, vibrant girl just a few years older than her. _Gracie I think her name was?_

"The last box is flattened and done with." Emily's chin rests lightly on Alison's left shoulder as she looks out and shares her sight of view. "We are officially moved in….even though we have barley anything in this apartment."

Alison laughs to herself because she knew it was true. Moving from their small personal apartments to a much bigger one, the things that took up a lot of space couldn't fill a room now. Alison feels herself slowly being dragged away from the window in the middle of their dining room towards their single couch where she dropped herself to sit on Emily's lap with a sigh. Dressed in rugged clothing and her hair tossed into a very messy bun to take care of the hard work, Emily is offered Alison's tea which she gratefully obliged to. As she took a sip, Alison brushes random strands of hair out of Emily's face as they've fell out of place with her jogging up and down the stairs with boxes, appliances, and furniture all day. She drops her hand a bit lower to wipe a black smudge off Emily's cheek that she wore like a badge of honor before she leaned in for a kiss.

Getting lost in her daydream a sudden air changed around Alison. It mirrored the feeling that you get when you're….high. And for a moment, it was almost startling. The out of control sense she was having was unlike no other. Everything inside her started mashing together like an all-out brawl: ecstasy, anxiety, butterflies, unease and euphoria to wrap it all up. It ripped Alison out of her peaceful thoughts and thrusted her into a brick wall at top speed,knocking the actual air out of her lungs.

Yet, it was the most pleasant rush she's ever been on.

With all this happening inside her, Alison turns her head to face Emily. To her surprise, Emily was already looking at her. Alison got in close, flipping onto her side as she gazed a long stare into Emily's eyes. They didn't say anything. They didn't make any kind of faces.

They just stared.

_Quietly. _

"_I'm falling so hard for you_…" Alison whispered her words ever so lightly that they were almost missed. She knew inevitably that this moment was coming but she was afraid that she wouldn't be ready for it. For the possible reaction. For the response back. She felt so open and so vulnerable that it made her fingers tremble.

"How do you know?" Emily questioned with the same low mumble Alison approached her with. _Tell me why._

"Because I can feel it." Alison voice cracks unexpectedly. She tries to keep her composure but her overwhelming amount of feelings she had at that exact moment made the brim of her eyes fill up with tears. "I don't know how to live in a world without you anymore. I don't know how to think without picturing you, I don't know how to listen without mishearing your name, how to talk without imagining what you would say, how to sleep without you being in my dreams." her first tear dropped itself from her eye and rolled slowly down her cheek.

"In every universe I create, you're right there with me. It's like… you are my Eve. Except you're my Emily. _My Emily that I'm madly in love with_."

Emily reaches up to wipe away Alison's tears as she sucked in her own bottom lip with a bite. She heard a few things told to her in the past in regards to where she stood in people's lives but never had she heard someone tell her that she was virtually their world. If anything, she was always the one with the fairytale like speeches and the dreamy sayings that would make one swoon. But listening to Alison pour out her inner-most feelings to her like that with such honesty and passion, it made her heart melt into a useless red puddle and her eyes water helplessly.

"If you're madly in love then I'm dangerously in love with you." Emily laughed through her falling tears as she continued to gently swipe her thumb on Alison's soft face. "There's nobody else that can fit me perfectly like you do."

Alison's face lights up a few shades with a smile as she, too, reached for Emily to caress her. "I hardly ever see you cry…" she lets out slowly as the thought really got to her. Emily has witnessed her cry several different times, more times than she would like, but in the midst of not only their relationship but for as long as she's known her, she's has only seen Emily shed a tear once. And it was literally one tear but even then Emily played it off so that she wouldn't see. She's always stood tall and strong for others so watching her actually cry in front of her was almost entrancing.

"It's because I love you." Emily holds Alison close, never losing herself in her eyes, "I want forever with us, Alison."

"I want forever with you too, Emily. I love you" Alison pulls Emily in for a gentle kiss. This kiss was a bit different from the others. Knowing for certain that they were in love with each other, it tasted a lot better.

…..

Walking hand in hand down to Alison's apartment door after a night for themselves, Alison turns around to face Emily with a bashful smile. "Thank you for walking me home. You're such a gentlewoman."

"What can I say?" a wide smiles spreads across Emily's face as she lets out a graceful chuckle, "I have to make sure my princess is safe and sound at all times."

Alison gazes into Emily's eyes, still with her blush reddening her checks before she drops her head and look at their hands and begins swaying them lightly. "Is this the part where you lean me against the door and kiss me or when you subtly ask to come in for the night?"

"You're not tired of seeing me almost _every _night?" Emily watches Alison face carefully for a reaction.

"_Never_…" Alison answers passionately as she lifted Emily's hands so she can press her palm into the brunette's, measuring the size difference of their hands, "It's like you live here….I like that."

The smile decides to live on Emily's face with no sign of leaving anytime soon. "Are _you _subtly asking me to come in for the night?"

"_Was that subtle?"_ Alison looks up with eyebrows raised in a fake concern even though her lips stayed upturned in a smirk. "I mean…this is like your place too."

"How about this…" Emily overlaps their fingers in a hand hold as she stepped closer into Alison, "I'll come inside, tuck you in and read you a bedtime story for the night, and then I'll head out."

Alison couldn't help but laugh as she bowed her head. Hearing Emily laugh along with her to such a childlike suggestion, Alison nods anyway, looking back up at her. "Sounds like a plan."

Although Alison hoped that Emily would do more than that, she turned around with at least one hand still attached to Emily's as she puts her key in the door and unlocks the entry to her apartment. Emily wraps both her arms around Alison's waist as they both trudge into the studio while the brunette steers her forward from behind, closing the door with her foot. Alison's giggles softly as her eyes naturally wander in front of her. Instantly, every trace of happiness disappears when they both notice a random blonde girl sitting on Alison's bed, watching them walk in.

"What the hell?" Emily lets go of Alison and stands up straight, getting on the defense right away at the stranger who causally sat on the furniture like she belonged there.

"Jason?" Alison calls out in a mixture of confusion and automatic distaste as she stomps further into the studio, getting to the corner of the kitchen where he was able to see Jason rise up from the couch.

"You must be Jason's baby sister." the blonde jumps to her feet with a kind smile as she approached Alison. She flashes out her hand for a handshake, "I'm Cece. Cute place, by the way. _Very chic_."

Like Siamese twins, Alison and Emily's eyes dropped down to Cece's extended hand for a second before they look back at her stupidly in synchronized movements. With Alison's glowering face set more judgmental than Emily's –who stared at Cece with no warmth but hostility to her presence instead- she bypasses the older girl to look at her brother with aiming eyes.

"You didn't tell me you were inviting company, Jason." she stated with irritation in her voice although sounding like she was trying to be somewhat decent with her choice of words.

"_Oh no_, I was saying goodbye. I was leaving anyways." Cece jumps in before Jason had a chance to speak. Still keeping on a friendly appearance, she smiled at both Alison and Emily with a head nod.

"Jason has told me many great things about you and how he's proud of how far you're making it at such a young age. I just wanted to say keep it up and I hope you get to where you need to be which..." Cece puts the attention on the design and detail of Alison's studio from her choice of paintings and furnishings, the classy black and white color scheme, to her art work that laid neatly scattered on her coffee table. "I really don't doubt." she complimented as she turned back to Alison.

Alison gave her a silent gesture of appreciation by forcing a smile even though, in her head, no matter what kind of compliments this "Cece" gave her, she still wants to know what the fuck she was doing in her apartment.

"It was nice meeting you." the older blonde put a hand on Alison's stiff shoulder which immediately gained intimidating looks from Emily at just the mere sight of touch. Cece's eyes find Emily's and she gives the brunette a closed-lipped smile as well before she walked past both of them and opened the front door, exiting the studio to leave the remaining three with themselves. Straight away, Alison paced to the door to lock it before she heavily clicked her heels on the floor to the main level where her brother stood.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking, Jason?!" Alison demanded in a volume right below a yell as she stood face to face to him. "I _never_ gave you permission to bring people over my apartment!"

"_Especially when fucking she's not here_." Emily snarls as she stood tall behind Alison, locking her sights onto the blond as if he was a target and she was waiting for orders to fire.

"She wasn't even here for more than 10 minutes." Jason started defending himself, feeling cornered very quickly by the two girls.

Alison's eyes widen at the implication of the word "she", making her think the worst thoughts. _"_You don't even_ know _her_?!"_

"No, I do!" Jason quickly interjects to clarify, "She's a friend of mine."

"_No_." Alison shakes her head as she steps away from him, keeping Emily in his company as she begins walking around her apartment, checking on things. "_Nonononono_. I don't like that. This is _not_ a vacation for you, Jason." she spins around to stare at him grimly as her hands do all the talking, "You don't get to just call up your friends and have hangout sessions whenever you feel like it. I don't know those fucking people and you already have some…some…._chick_ lounging on my bed like she had no damn home training."

"I trust her. Cece is a good friend-"

"Oh yeah, just like Ian and Garrett were?" Alison power walked back towards Jason with her arms tightly crossed against her chest. The snap in her voice made Jason quiet himself as he took the verbal lashing he knew was coming for such an unwise decision. "And those other degenerate _creeps_ that you called friends over the years? I think your judgement of what constitutes a _good friend_ is pretty shitty."

Jason sighed as he looked down at his hands. "_Look_, she just drove me back over here so I wouldn't have to take the bus." he explained with his tone remaining calm.

"We don't give a damn if she flew you on her magic carpet and dropped you off at the window." Emily takes one step closer to Jason as she cocked her head slightly to one side, glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "There shouldn't be _anyone_ here when Alison is not. The only people given access to this place is Alison, myself, and a team of fucking paramedics. And even _then_ you _better be_ in mid-stroke, talking to Jesus himself because there's no reason paramedics should be up here in the first damn place."

Jason tenses up at Emily's brashness with every movement she makes towards him. He knows she's taking this opportunity to put him in his place in front of Alison. She's been waiting to do that since he got here and now, here's her chance.

"Nobody is allowed inside this apartment period." Emily's voice drops to a grave level as she stares directly at him with her upper hand of power. _"Do you understand?"_

Holding her gaze for a brief moment, Jason looks past her at Alison who stood slightly behind. Yes, he now knows he made a bad call but was she really going to allow Emily to bark at him as if he was some kind of unruly delinquent child?

"_Hey!"_ Emily spitefully claps loudly in his face, inches away from actually touching him to get his attention. "Do you need me to spell it out in sign language for you?"

"_Answer her, Jason_." Alison reiterates the question at hand with a push, fully standing behind Emily and her way of chastising. Since forever, Jason always had the final say no matter what she did or how she tried to flip the situation so having backup to enforce rules even when she felt a bit overwhelmed really contributed more than she thought it would. So as of right now, yes, Emily is her voice.

Jason stands before them, feeling sort of backed into a corner by the two girls. However, he nods his head firmly before he eyes left Alison and aligned with Emily's hard ones.

"Understood."

"**The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." **_**-Helen Keller**_

**What are your feelings right now?**

**Countdown to the end of Trouvaille continues….**


	32. Chapter 32: Dawn of Power

**_*Dramatically turns around with hair blowing in the wind*_ Did you miss me?**

**I know it seems as if I left you guys hanging, but rest assured, I have not! I've been writing a tremendous amount in the past few months. **

**Ho boy, I mean a lot.**

**However, I did get plagued with the non-motivational bug a lot of those times. But I forced myself to crawl out of that hole because not only do you guys miss this story but I miss the little world of Emison that we've created together.**

**7A has ended and now we're all waiting for the last of PLL to end our suffering once and for all. So bittersweet, if you ask me. There have been quite a few things from the show in 7A that has reminded me of this fic. Like for example, Jason! Seeing Jason was almost surreal because (without seeing any behind the scenes or what Drew looked like currently) how Jason looked coming back on the show was exactly how I painted him coming back here. Did you guys imagine him the same way? Also, that now famous Emison cuddle reminded me ****_a lot_**** of their couch cuddle in Chapter 29 as well. I don't know, it might just be me but I tend to see Trouvaille in some of the most subtle places! :D**

**Well, my favorite readers, I have some news for you at the bottom.**

**See you there :)**

CHAPTER #32: Dawn of Power

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

With the morning sun high in the cloudless sky, shining down onto the busy weekday of downtown Philadelphia, Alison pulls apart her white curtains to lighten up her whole apartment. She ties both sides of the curtains to hold them open before she turns around and sees Jason coming from around the kitchen to the bar where he pulls up a seat with a plate in one hand some kind of book in the other.

Ever since last night's surprise, Alison suggested that Emily leave earlier than planned. The tension that sat in the apartment was so thick that it probably could have lifted her feet off the ground and support her floating in the air so Emily did just that. Unfortunately, the tension didn't go away and Jason ended up silently reading his book, most likely given to him from the program, before he went off to go to sleep. All of that without another word being exchanged between them two.

"So….what are your plans now?" Alison casually asks as she walks over to a single, small desk by her window and picks up an assorted selection of magazines along with some craft supplies, "I'm not complaining or anything but you've been here for a little over a week and I'm just curious to know what you're going to do to support yourself."

Jason lets out a small sigh. "I have some things here and there that I'm working on the side. You won't have to worry for too long, though." he stirs around his breakfast before getting a forkful of hash browns that he cooked, "I'll be out and you won't have to deal with me ever again."

"_Jason_…" Alison rolls her eyes as she drops herself onto her couch, placing every supply she had grabbed out onto her coffee table, "I don't want you to disappear again. You said things are different now and I want us to at least try. I want you to talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking."

Jason nods his head with a slight pout as he places down his silverware and book before turning around in his chair to face his sister. "Okay. Let's talk."

"Okay."

"Ali, I am grateful that you're helping me and I tell you this every day, do I not?"

"You do."

"Well, with that being mutually understood," he laces his fingers together in brief hesitation, "I can't help that I feel trapped here."

Alison raised a confused brow with a head tilt to match at her brother's words. "_Trapped? _What do you mean _trapped_?"

"I'm not trying to _'meddle'_ and throw out my opinion like it matters but…Emily makes it very hard to live here." Jason begins to trial his case that could end very quickly for him. As soon as Alison gave him a crazy side-eye as if what he just said was horseshit, he hurriedly jumps to defend himself before she could say anything in response. "I know-I know you said no criticism because you guys are dating and everything but the way she is towards me makes things uncomfortable here. This is a studio apartment; there are no doors, nowhere to hide. I'm not complaining that she's here because this is your place and you can have whoever you want but it's just that she acts like I'm the fucking scum of the earth every time she sees me."

Still with her face held up in a scrunch, Alison knows that Jason isn't lying when it comes to the intensity of the apartment lately. She's seen it first-hand but, at the same time, Jason should not have expected staying at his estranged sister's place with a girlfriend who knows of their past was going to be a breeze in the sky. She shakes her head dismissively at him, "Emily is just being protective-"

"I know what happened between us was foul. On both sides." Jason continues on so he could drive his point home before Alison swept away everything he was saying, "I know this. But that's between me and you. I don't need her to threaten me for it."

And once again, Alison's neck twisted even more at this mere comment regarding Emily. "_Threaten you?_ Emily hasn't threatened you."

"Can you stand by that statement, Alison?" Jason leans forward out of his chair as he rests his hands on his thigh. He always knew Emily's plans to sneakily backhand him without the consequences of Alison. After last night, he was sure Alison was aware and allowed her to act the way she does. However, with Alison's oblivious reaction, it made sense that it was a show out.

"I know she can have an attitude but she wouldn't go as far as threatening you." Alison shakes him off as she turned her attention to the coffee table in front of her. She had a selection of fashion magazines and for an assignment, she had to focus for a project that's soon due and the only way she was going to have some kind of start is if she looked-

"Yesterday when you left to go check your mail? While on the phone? In that short time, she stood up to me, face to face, and threatened me." Jason explained before he let out a small, emotionless chuckle, "_Or at least tried to_."

"Well, what did you do?" Alison lifted her gaze up back to Jason with a turn of her body. The slight irritation in her questioning threw Jason for loop, causing her to shoot back a similar sour face she gave him earlier.

"What did_ I _do?" he jabbed a finger into his own chest as the pitch in his voice raised.

"She wouldn't just go around intimidating people if she wasn't provoked. She's not like that."

"What kind of victim-blaming bullshit?" Jason's eyes widened as he leaned back into his seat. The amazement of Alison's words stunned him a bit that all he could do is push out an unbelievable scoff. _What did you do, _he repeats to himself mentally. "Wow. I didn't know trying to have a civil conversation warrants me getting jumped on. But I'll take note of that: don't speak and you won't have to worry about getting hassled."

"Okay, cut the dramatics, Jason." Alison rolled her eyes with a drawn out sigh as she took her hands off her magazine and tossed them back onto the table. She stared at her brother with now annoyance of his theatrical-like performance. "Get to the point. What did she do?"

"All I did was ask her about the markers she brought you. That was it." he began his recollection, "I stepped out after trimming, asked her why you were so excited, and she acted like me even talking to her was a burden. Then when I tried to have a one-on-one with her, she got in my face. Now, I'm not whining because I'm a grown ass man, I wasn't the _least_ bit intimidated. But at the same time, I feel like she has no place to step to me like that."

Alison goes to speak up and try to make sense of what Jason was saying when he continued his spiel so that he would be able to get everything off his chest and not lose his thought process.

"But to be honest with you, that doesn't even bother me. I've been approached by people you wouldn't even want to be on the same street as. True fear-inducing people." shaking his head, his eyes lay on his younger sister, "But what bothers me is what _you_ allow her to do."

Alison leans her neck back with her face now stuck into a temporary state of disapproval and amazement at the allegations that now went from Emily to her. "What do you mean _what I allow her to do_?" she repeats back at Jason with now an offended tone. Alison knew that they were hitting choppy waters with this conversation and there were only a couple ways that it was going to end. One of them being choppy waters turned into 30 feet waves crashing into the walls of the boat, threatening to capsize and throw everyone overboard.

"That show she put on last night that you stood behind by." Jason swiveled to the side of his seat and reached for his glass of orange juice on the bar counter and takes a brief sip before he resumed with his reflection, "You know, I was thinking about it all night and….. I can't seem to wrap my head around the concept. It's not like you guys have been dating for years. You guys known each other for a handful of months and she already has the authority to treat me anyway she wants? _Alison_," he says her name ever so softly, almost like a parents who is lecturing their child, however, more disappointed than upset. He stares at her quietly for a moment, studying the hard look Alison had aiming at him.

"I would _never_ let that fly with you. No matter how bad our upbringing was. If, for some reason, you had to stay at my place and my girlfriend who knew about our past came up and started barking at you and then clapped in _your face_?" he blew out a stream of air, looking at Alison through the corner of his eyes as he shook his head at just the mere thought of something like that happening. "I would have shut that shit down _so quick_. I could be dating her for years, could have been my fiancée or even my wife, I don't care what level you are with me, you will either respect my family or get the hell out."

With still her pinched brows and stiff look locked, Alison's eyes slowly fall out of line with Jason's as she couldn't help but to feel affected by his words although she tried not to. With his whole account, she wanted to brush that off as exaggeration. It had to be. Emily stepping up to and _threatening_ him to his face sounded like a stretch if she ever heard one. Yes, Emily is defensive to Jason's presence, this she saw with her own eyes. But she couldn't see her getting up close and menacing like that to the point Jason has to sit down and tell her about it…

Taking a larger gulp of his juice, Jason places the glass back onto the bar before he grabbed his breakfast plate before it got cold and he would have to reheat it. He takes his plate, places it on his lap, cuts into his sausage link and scooped it up with a side of his scrambled eggs to put into his mouth.

"All I'm saying is if the tables were reversed last night and you brought someone over, I would be like, _'look, I don't want people coming over without my knowledge'_. That was your first offence and you didn't know so I wouldn't be so bent." he explained while he chewed, "That's what I would have done because at the end of the day, you are my sister and no woman is put on a higher pedestal than you."

Alison's eyes flickers back up towards Jason with her face softening up from the hard gaze she had earlier. For a second…..she couldn't believe her ears.

_Jason has never shown that Alison held any kind of importance in his life other than a burden. _

_No woman is put on a higher pedestal than you, what?_

"The girl I'm with shouldn't even feel the _need _to say anything because it's not her place to and she would know that. But the moment she would try to raise up to you like she runs you, she would be pulled right back to Earth in that same second. And then her and I would have a problem because _who the hell are you?_" Jason points his spoon at Alison with his neck cocked as if he was talking to his hypothetical girlfriend,_ "Who gave you the okay to talk to my sister like that because I certainly didn't. _Emily has had it out for me the moment she saw me and that's fine, nobody has to like me. But damn, Ali…." he gives a slight grimace as he grabs another spoonful of food and chews on it, fully swallowing before continuing, "There are no line of boundaries. No consequences whatsoever because she knows you'll back her up on it. And you did." keeping his eyes on his plate as he eats, he shakes his head mindlessly, "I just think that's fucked up because I would never let you go through that."

Alison opened her mouth to come up with a reply but got stuck in what to say. It's not like she didn't know what to say but more like how to say it. There were a few options yet coming down to the fine lines of respect, family, and boundaries. To anyone looking in, the idea of someone: a friend, partner, or anyone who is not blood disrespecting your blood, might not be something one could stand behind and support because there are lines. But this situation is different.

_Isn't it?_

_I mean…this is Emily we're talking about._

_And Jason._

_This is different….? Right?_

"Remember a couple of dinners ago when I told you that things weren't going to be easily swept under the rug?" Alison tidies the magazines in front of her, laying them in a neat stack just to give her hands something to do. "That's what this is. Us dealing with the aftermath that we refuse to handle years ago."

"And that's exactly how it should be handled. Between you and I because it is _our _aftermath." Jason emphasizes, "We don't need some third party to voice their-"

"Emily is not _some third party_, Jason." With a swift head turn, Alison cuts him off in order to correct his statement, to clear up a misunderstanding that she refused to allow her brother to make in front of her. "She _is_ and _will be_ in my life for however long time permits. And the moment you stop viewing her like an outsider, the quicker this thing can dissolve between you two."

"I'm not treating her like an outsider, Alison. If anything, I _try _to talk to her. I'm not aggressive and boisterous and obnoxious, I just want a conversation. _That's all_. She treats _me _like an outsider. And the sooner _she_ realizes I'm not, then we can get somewhere."

"You need to see things from her perspective. _Technically_….you are an outsider coming in."

"I'm your brother! Wh-"

"But you haven't been in my life since graduation." Alison rebuttals back with a firm snap. This very sentence forces Jason's silence which then caused the whole apartment to be eerily quiet with the sounds of a honking car from the outside streets. Her and Jason share a moment of held eye contact, nothing too aggressive other than stating and accepting facts that they both knew were true. "All this time it's just been me." Alison slowly continues as she places her sights back on her magazines, "And as of lately, it's only been her and I. With that being said, she just wants to protect me. That means whatever iffy, suspicious thing that floats in my direction, she's immediately going to stand front line and take guard. It's what she does."

"How am I-"

"_But_….the last thing I need is even more animosity and tension here than there already is." Alison sighs and pushes herself off the couch to walk back to her small desk where she pulls out a few more supplies as Jason watches her. "I will not have that energy in my apartment. I can't live like that and I won't."

Jason nods his head as he drops back down to his plate. At the end of the day, this was Alison's apartment and he was merely just a guest for the time being. Beggars can't be choosers. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have unloaded on you like that. There's just been a lot on my mind lately."

"You're fine…" Alison sighs out, staring at the supplies in her hand for a moment before she closes the drawer and turns back around. Immediately, Jason's bag perched up against the couch caught her eye and stopped her train of thought for the first time this morning.

"When did you get a phone?"

"What?"

She points towards the mesh pocket on the side of the backpack that held a smartphone in it. "You didn't have a phone before you were here."

Jason looks at floor of the couch for a moment, nodding his head before he went back to finishing food. "I just got it. Metro. Pre-paid so I can some kind of line that employers can reach me at."

Alison accepts his explanation and turned her sights elsewhere. At least he was being responsible and actively trying to do better for himself. She walks back to the couch and props herself to get ready to start on her work. She spaces everything in front of her, trying to decide where she's going to start first.

"You remind me so much of her…" Jason comments out loud but in a soft and admiring-like tone.

"Of who?" Alison asks without even looking up from the pieces that she picked up in her hands.

"Mom."

Alison turns her head to look at Jason, surprised he would even say anything like that. The random comparison stunned her speechless if she was completely honest. All she was able to do was look at Jason for a few seconds before her eyes fell down and she turned back to her work. She's never going to be able to start it with all the curveballs being tossed at her today.

Jason forks around his breakfast now noticing how eerily silent things just got between them. "If there is anything that I learned, it's that life can be taken at the speed light." Jason begins. "One moment you're admiring the sun and how it feels on your skin then the next minute you get hit with a spray bullet that wasn't even meant for you. We already lost someone and I want to spend whatever time we have left on the earth admiring that sun, being relaxed, and not walking around with hunger in our hearts or knots in our stomachs. You like Emily and I want to get to know her better. I don't want to fight. If this is the person that you're like, _yeah. I want her to be a part of my life, _then I want her to be a part of my life too."

A pause passes through as Jason starts to eat the remains of his food, giving Alison the time to truly let his words sink in and hoping that she is able to see things from how he's viewing. After finishing his plate, before getting up, Jason goes on to speak once again.

"You know with the program and the mini classes in-between, I learned a lot of things. Controlling myself and dealing with situations being one of them."

"I can tell." Alison says lowly as she skims through one of her magazines. "You're more...levelheaded than before."

"It took a good minute to get there. It was an obstacle. But in learning about how to deal with toxic environments, I think we all need a sit-down. A dinner or something."

Alison sets down everything for the 80th time. _Now there is talk of an intervention, great_, Alison thinks to herself as she sits back into her couch. She has a feeling that she won't get any work done today. Placing her hands in her lap, Alison decides to give Jason her undivided attention.

"A dinner?"

"You, Emily, and myself. Just release whatever feelings we have in a civil and non-hostile atmosphere. This way, we can let go of animosity and start with a true clean slate because we can't get along if we are holding onto anger, you know. It will hold us back every time."

Alison ponders the sudden suggestion. Already hearing of Emily and Jason ready to trade blows coupled with the idea of a dinner? That can turn out either which way. However, the negative direction is an immediate hell no in Alison's book. Yet, all she could do is sigh. "Maybe. I'm….I'm not sure but maybe, I guess."

Jason nods, at least grateful that Alison would even consider the idea. He just really wants things to be good between everyone. He's not mentally ready to lace up his boots and go into the warzone every time he sees Emily and he knows Emily doesn't want to uphold that constant emotional turmoil either. So, maybe if there is a way they can reach a true, Jason is going to at least try.

"...Are you still going to therapy?"

Taken back by the sporadic nature of the question, Alison squints her eyes at her brother, not sure where the hell he was planning on taking this new conversation.

"Dad said the last time he talked to you, he said you were."

"...I am…" Alison answers hesitantly before looking down and rubbing her hands down her thighs, "I've gotten better now."

"Who would have thought the precious DiLaurentis' kids would grow up to be stuffed in therapy and anger management sessions as adults." Jason comments out of sarcasm. Two kids that were giving everything by their parents ended up dysfunctional for the most part. Comedy if you asked him.

Alison shakes her head at the thought as well. "Hm….Who would have?"

"The meds they give you…are they helping at least?" Jason questions lightly, knowing that this topic could get very sensitive, very quickly. He just wanted to know if she was able to get the help she needed or if her doctor is a sham. Just like his was.

"Yeah, I switched a few times this year and got some new ones. Just playing test dummy at this point."

"They have you rotating like that?" Jason tilts his head in near surprise at her response. "That's not good for your body, Ali. They know better than to have you like that."

Alison nods her head, recognizing the concern but already knowing the whole situation of taking so many different medications. "I know but they all did different things for me. Zoloft, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, and whatever else garbage. Some worked while some didn't. Even a while ago, I was prescribed Xanax."

"_Xanax?_ Why?"

"It was during _that _time…" Alison trails off and no more was needed to be said. Jason uncomfortably chews the inside of the cheek, being reminded of probably one of his worst times and ultimately one of the instances that severed his and Alison's relationship. "Anyways, I don't take it anymore so it's just decoration now."

"I'm sorry for not being there, Alison." Jason stares down at the empty plate in his hands, regrettably through a grim voice that caused Alison to look his way. "Not only lacking in physicality but emotionally as well."

Alison took in his full appearance of sorrow, keeping her eyes on him throughout. "….I would say it's okay but it isn't and I don't want to lie."

"Don't even…." Jason looks up, catching the blues of his sister in the made eye contact. "I just want you to know."

...

Alison taps quietly her mechanical pencil on the side of her face as she watches Emily dig her brain inside of one of her school textbook. They sat across from each other at Emily's dining table with Emily studying for her finals and Alison working on her latest project. The minimal sounds of Emily reciting things to herself in a hushed tone was the only ambience set in that whole apartment while a not so hushed voice in Alison's mind replays moments from her morning with Jason. She wanted to just let everything pass and move on but she couldn't. She couldn't stop staring at Emily.

"Em…" Alison finally calls out as she went from tapping her pencil to rubbing it in-between her fingers.

"Mhmmm?" Emily responds back through pressed lips and her eyes never leaving her notebook while she writes down notes.

"The day you brought me those markers and I left to go check my mail…" Alison takes a brief moment to herself, silently inhaling a deep breath before she continued on. "Did you threaten Jason?"

Still with her eyes down, Emily comes to a stop in all of her movements. Alison watches her set her pencil down on top of the white page of her notebook before she lifted her head up to look at her.

"He said that I _threatened_ him?"

"He said that you two had some sort of…" Alison waves her hand, trying to find the appropriate word, "Verbal standoff."

Emily shakes her head with the faintest of a chuckle. "Did a few words get exchanged between us? Yes." she confirms as she goes back into her notes, "Were they friendly? Not really, I mean I'm not going to lie about it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because what is there to tell? Sometimes boundaries have to be set. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page."

Alison lets out a sigh, setting her pencil down before closing her eyes and rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Last night, I shouldn't have allowed you to get in Jason's face like that. I was so wrapped up in the emotions prior that I wasn't thinking clearly-"

"Alison," Emily firmly cuts her off, setting her pencil back down as well as she looks at Alison with a deep appointed stare, "he brought someone into your apartment without telling you."

"I know but at the same time I didn't make myself clear on the rules so he didn't kn-"

"It's fucking common decency! You don't bring your friends into someone's home."

"I know…"

"Then why are you taking his side?"

Alison stares back at Emily, mimicking her own appearance with her brows furrowed and forehead creased. "There are no sides I'm taking, Emily. I just want a middle ground between everyone. I don't like the idea that you two saving face when I'm around but the moment I turn my back, you guys are sizing each other up." she defiantly crossed her arms as her eyes turn away from Emily, "That puts more work on my back because now I'm apprehensive about having you two in the same place."

Emily leans back in her chair, her eyes never leaving Alison as her ears pick up on every word that's being said. She wanted to know where exactly Alison was going with this.

"I know you don't like him, Emily, and I'm not too keen on him either but….I'm trying. I really am." Alison's voice softens as she returns her sight on Emily with pleading eyes. "And I cannot take two steps forward with trying to move forward, then five steps back just because we're now arguing over the placement of your boundaries."

Emily's face scrunches up immediately on beat of Alison's last sentence. "My what?"

Before Emily could say anything else, Alison raises a hand up to stop her. "I am forever grateful of your protection, Emily. You know this. You do. I have found such a happy medium with you and I don't want this newfound energy to be sucked out just because you two are fighting."

Emily holds Alison's eye contact without saying anything before Alison leaves her eyes once again. This situation was more than black and white. Emily understands Alison's plight but that the same time, she still felt that Jason had to be kept on a tight leash before anyone starts going to bat for him.

"Jason offered a sit-down, a dinner with all three of us. Just to get everything out in the open." Alison informs as she plays with corners of her sketchbook. "And…I think it's a good idea." she lifts her eyes to meet Emily's. "Will you please come and join us?"

Emily blows out a sigh, leaning her back off her chair as she scoots closer to the table, grabbing her pencil again to get back to her notes. "Well, if you're on board with it then I'll be there."

"Thank you." Alison bows her head with a slight smile of appreciation. She knows deep down Emily would rather throw her body onto a bed of shredded glass but at least she's trying. And that's all she's asking for. Emily forces a smile back and then resumes with her studying while Alison continues to stare at her.

"What did you say to Jason anyway?"

Emily lightly laughs, "No offense, Ali, but Jason is overreacting." she looks up at her, "The only thing I said was that now that he's back in your life, he better not screw it up. You've been through a lot and you don't need him being half-assed and taking advantage of you just because you are his younger sister. That's _literally_ it."

Alison shakes her head to herself just as Emily makes herself comfortable in her seat.

"Look, and I mean absolute no offense when I say this but…" Emily pauses as she tries to pick her words carefully. "I feel that Jason is like a stray dog in this situation."

"A dog?" Alison repeats with a small gasp in her voice as her eyes widen. She knows Emily dislikes Jason but is she calling him a dog just because?

Emily closes her eyes, waving her hand to try to correct herself. "No, I mean…you know when you have a family pet that you love and it's the best thing that ever happens to you?"

"Okay…" Alison awkwardly answers, having not a clue what Emily is trying to say.

"Then all of a sudden, they get lost and you have no idea where they are. Months go by and there is no luck. Then, one day, your beloved pet comes back home and you're elated but no matter how much you try, you can't make things go back to how it used to be because that's not the same dog you raised." Emily puts lightly as she sees Alison's harden face soften. "This dog has been God-knows where, dealing with things you have no clue about. You don't know how many nights they went without eating, how many cold, wet nights they've endured, how many times they've been kicked around by random people, how many dog fights they've found themselves in. You don't know what this dog has been through so you have to be very careful because you don't know what little thing can set them off and have them jerk back into survival mode."

"A dog with PTSD." Alison says half sarcastically yet half curious to understand this metaphor put in front of her. "That's what you're saying?"

"I'm serious, Ali." Emily places her arms on her table, leaning forward to hold Alison's attention to her words. "We don't know what Jason has been through all these years. Look how he came to your front door. All I'm saying is that we have to be careful."

Alison blinks a few times, letting the reality sit in with her. She knew Emily is right and just as Jason doesn't know who she is, she equally doesn't know who Jason is either. Someone who she lived with for 18 years of her life, she hardly recognized when she opened her door that night.

...

Ever since the mention of Fashion Week that was literally less than two weeks away, the sense of shopping came heavily to Alison. She had a closet full of clothes that she could undoubtedly pick and choose from and look stunning in any outfit, however, she felt the need to buy new things because this was Fashion Week. In New York._ Fashion. Designers. Runways. Tickets to invite only events._ She had to look like she belong and, in her head, the clothes she had wouldn't do the job so it was time to put on her fashion goggles and think "couture". A few days later after their talk, with no work and classes set for their afternoon, Emily picked up Alison and they headed all throughout the city going to various outlets. However, the first place they stopped at wasn't exactly ideal in Emily's mind.

Alison slowly trails down the wall display of heels on a white glass shelf, illuminated by a bright light as light pop music plays overhead inside the cool, air conditioned shop during the warm and sunny day. On a different selection, Emily bops her head to the music as she walks around with her hands in her pockets, chewing on her bottom lip when she comes across a jacket that caught her attention. The now piqued interest causes Emily to walk closer to the white mannequin woman wearing a deep, blood red leather jacket that was practically screaming her name. Tight and form fitting, Emily drags her fingers against the crocodile-like scales and multiple zippers that made up the jacket.

_Damn….look how hot this is! You know you want to buy it. You should treat yourself once in a while! Who's it gonna hurt?_

Emily contemplates with herself as she admires on the overall appearance that gave off a very strong and edgy look. She pictured herself wearing it with a simple pair of skinny jeans and boots and immediately saw how hot she'd look in it.

She wanted the jacket.

She was going to buy the jacket.

_Today._

Emily searches around for some kind of marking or tag on the item as she does quick mental math on how much she was going to allowed herself to spend.

_Okay let's say $60 at most. If you buy this, then you worked a day's shift for free. Wait-are there any games coming on…? No, yeah, you worked a day for free. I can only spend $100 this whole week so if I get this jacket I won't be able to replace the fruits and yogurts I finished. And I can't get my juices either, dammit. What's more important? Jacket or food? Food or Jacket?_

Emily finally finds the price tag of the jacket and flips it over.

_Jacket. Food. Jacket. Food. Jacket. Food. Jack-_

Emily nearly chokes as her eyes pop out of her head and jaw was sent to the floor with sirens blaring all around her like an animated Disney cartoon. She sputters to find her voice now lodged somewhere deep inside her throat while she reads off the price tag of the jacket before her.

"_T-T-Two…Two thousand d-d-dollars?!"_ Emily whispers to herself in a warp disbelief. For a second, she thought she was in a twilight zone, throwing down the tag and clutching her chest as if she saw something that was going to haunt her in her dreams. She frantically turns her head and glances at the other clothes hanging on walls, racks, and other mannequins around her. It only took a second before she steps into the neighboring rack and desperately shuffles through them, looking at the price tag of every item.

_$200_

_$187_

_$322_

_$589_

_$217_

Emily gasps to herself as she reads the tag of a simple black blouse that was on sale. "It was $345 and now it's reduced to _$320_? _What kind of sale?!_ It's still _$300_!" Emily talks to herself with a hushed sense of confusion, keeping her voice to herself as she has a surreal mini freakout. Her eyes dart to Alison, touching and examining a two pairs of navy blue heels and yellow heels, almost comparing and contrasting. Without even realizing, her feet were already walking in the path of her girlfriend when she comes behind Alison. Alison briefly looks over her shoulder at Emily before going back to the shoes.

"Which one do you think looks better? I like how the blue one looks but these yellow ones can go with many different things that I have."

"Let me see." Emily comments as she reaches for the blue heels out of Alison's hands. Without looking at the heel like Alison intended her to do, Emily flips the heels over to look at the price sticker on the bottom of the soles. "_Mhmmm_. That's what I thought." Emily presses her lips together as she places the heel back on the display then takes the yellow one and puts it away as well.

"_Wha_-" Alison manages to get out before Emily casually yet urgently grabs her hands and walks her in the direction of the exit doors.

"We can basically put a down payment on a used vehicle with those heels." Emily whispers to Alison as she puts on a fake smile and nods at an employee they walk past. "I just saw my life flash before my eyes and you know what it told me?"

"What?" Alison ask as Emily basically drags her out of the shop.

"Goodwill is a _perfectly_ _fine_ place to go shopping for us poor people."

"_Goodwill?_" Alison eyebrows frown as she spits back almost insulted. They were going to go to _Fashion Week_ where they're going to see designers, celebrities, and the newest ideas to hit fashion and Emily wants them to wear clothes from _Goodwill_? "_Are you serious_?"

"Yes! Didn't you learn anything from Macklemore?" Emily pushes open the front glass door with one hand, allowing Alison to walk out first before she left behind her. "We're gonna figure out how to pop some tags with literally only 20 dollars in our pockets."

...

After that jump scare Emily experienced, she decides to keep Alison in the ranges of stores that won't send you into debt just by entering their establishment. Although a little pouty in the beginning, Emily knew she was doing the right thing because the last thing she wanted to do is allow the excitement of New York to cloud Alison's mind into thinking she had to buy top dollar clothing just to keep up with the Joneses. At the end of the day, Alison's a fashion student. They teach them how to turn something out of nothing and everything she wears fits her completely. Emily had no doubt that she could go to New York in a hefty duty trashbag and people would stop her to ask her where she brought it from in praise.

Never actually hitting Goodwill, they pass time by walking in and out of other less expensive department stores that still fit Alison's tastes without the acquired price tags that came with them. And with each store they leave, they exit with a bag hanging on their arm. Those bags belonging solely to Alison. The two girls stop and search around another store in a semi busy plaza whose sign caught Alison's eyes being that she never visited the shop before. The routine they fell into was pretty much the same everywhere they went: Alison walks into the store, Emily steers her to the clearance aisle, they would look around, Emily voicing her opinion every time Alison asked her about and outfit, Alison would try out a couple of selections and Emily waited outside on a bench, giving her yes or no judgment although Alison would override almost everything she said.

"Okay…." Alison voice sounds first before the dressing room door opened and out walked Alison in a dark, navy blue mini dress, particularly designed to accentuate her frame. The ruffled dress cinched at the waist put eyes on her legs, curves, and arms while completely covering her chest for a touch of controlled sophistication. She extends her arms out to present herself to Emily. "How does this look?"

Emily's face glows into a smile as her eyes scale up and down her body. "Turn around?" she politely gestures with her finger before she nodded her head with a definite certainty. "I like it. It fits you just right."

"_Are you kidding me?_" Alison throws her arms down against her sides with a disgusted huff. She looks down and pulls at the fabric of the dress, "I look like a beached whale that got harpooned by fishermen on their way to Alaska."

"Wait, _what_?" Emily's face falls as she shake her head in confusion, not understanding the drastic change of emotion.

"I don't like it." Before Emily had the chance to ask Alison why, she walks back into her changing room and closes the door, leaving Emily sitting stupid on the waiting bench.

...

"Be honest. Yes or no."

"_Ahhh_….." Emily clenches her teeth as she stares at Alison turning slowly for her to take in all of her outfit choice: a mulberry colored long sleeve shirt with a low neck swoop and a blue floral, ruffled, mini skirt that has splashes of various pastel colors. Alison stops and stands facing her, expecting an answer by now.

"Maybe not so much the skirt." she finally says, "It's not doing your legs as much justice as you would like."

"So, you're saying I look like I'm walking on two stubs for legs." Alison crosses her arms with her body now leaning to the side.

"_No!_ I-"

"Wow, I actually liked this one. The top has a nice length of the neck that shows enough skin to be classy and compliments the tone of this skirt. The mixes of orange, yellow, white, and pink patterns would go great with a tan set of heels." Alison looks back at Emily who looks back at her with her mouth open. Alison shrugs her shoulders high as if Emily should have already known about the schematics of patterns and colors and how it works. "It goes together."

"_I mean_…" Emily pushes out with a grimace, trying to downplay everything. Alison groans and marches back into her dressing room.

...

After waiting about five to ten minutes for another round of "deal or no deal", Emily bounces her leg to the beat of the store's overhead music as she checks her phone during the time. Doing so, the dressing room door opens once more, catching Emily attention from the corner of her eyes: The pink, ribbed midi dress that fell right below her knees. it had fit her form perfectly and was designed with straps sowed into the dress, wrapping diagonally across her waist to create a hourglass form. She had slipped into gold strapped heels as well to not only compliment her skin tone but her hair color as well.

"_Wow.._." Emily locks her phone and gawks on like a child walking into a candy shop for the first time. "That looks amazing! _Seriously_….amazing!" she nods her head as she can't help but to keep smiling. "Sooo good…."

"That's it? Good?" Alison cocks her head at Emily, instantly snapping her out of her small haze. "Do you not see the way it's squeezing my ribs, making me look I'm suffocating when I breathe?"

"Alison, _come on_ now!" Emily groans loudly as she rises to her feet. "If I like something, you hate it. If I don't like it, you like it and then make me feel bad that I didn't like it. We visited five different stores, please _cut me a break_!"

"Oh _shut it_, Fields, and get in here." Alison rolls her eyes as she tugs Emily by her shirt and pulls her into the dressing room with Emily closing the door behind her. "I'm just joking with you. I'm not _that_ difficult." she mocks her with a small smile. She took Emily's comments into consideration as she decided what was a yes and what was a no. She was just being dramatic for fun. "Besides, as I was looking, I found some clothes that might fit you. I need you need to be on your A game while we're out there."

"Am I not all the time? I thought I dress pretty damn hot." Emily sat comfortably with her back against the wall as she watched Alison prepare to undress. However, catching the hesitant look on her face through the mirror, she tilts her head at her girlfriend. "Are you saying I don't dress well?"

"You do _but_…there are some outfits that could be matched a bit better here and there…" Alison ducks her head as she stares back at Emily through the mirror with a grimaced smile.

Emily wags her finger as she closes her eyes and shakes her head, unbelievably. "_Oh no._ Don't you bring that judgmental fashion student gaze on me now."

"_What?_" Alison shrugs with a tickled laugh. "I'm made to judge clothing every day, I can't help it! It's an automatic response."

"Well, hurry up and automatic response yourself out of these clothes. Seriously, if you're still trying to do more runs before the day ends, we need to start putting a move on it. Plus, I have an abundance of clothes. I'm set."

"A closet full of flannels of every color in the rainbow is what you call _set_?"

"Stop it." Emily takes one of Alison's article of clothing and snaps it at her butt, causing her to giggle again. "I have clothes. Nice clothes. I just took you out on a _lunchable dinner date_ in my _room_ because I couldn't afford a real date at a real restaurant. I'm not going to spend the money I'm trying to save on a shopping spree."

Alison begins pulling down the thick shoulder straps of dress with the means of going back into her original outfit. "Okay, okay, grumpy pants." she playfully pouts.

...

"Alright, Ma'am, your total is $76.84." the teenage boy behind the cashier rings Alison up as Emily grabs the last of her bags. Alison catches a glimpse of Emily's disapproving yet silent expression to the price while she softly smirks to herself and digs into her purse. She can already hear the lecture coming her way as soon as they walk past the exit doors but she cannot help it. Sometimes it pays to look good!

Alison pulls out her royal blue debit MasterCard and slides it through the card reader, tapping the screen mindlessly as she already plans in her head which stores they should head over to ne-

"I'm sorry, it doesn't seem to be going through." the cashier brings his voice down to a mere whisper just so Alison and only Alison can hear, "Do you have another card we can try?"

Alison was immediately brought back upon hearing the employee's words. "It didn't go through?"

"No, Ma'am." he responded back cautiously. He didn't want to embarrass Alison by saying that her card declined out loud.

Emily looks over at Alison curiously at the delayed finalization of her purchase as she goes through her purse once more, quietly mumbling to herself. A few moments pass before Alison comes across another card. This one pre-paid. She pays more attention than before when she wipes it through the card reader and waits momentarily for the transaction to process. The young boy smiles politely as the receipt prints and hands it over to Alison.

"Here you go. Thank you for visiting us, come again soon."

Alison nods and walks away with Emily, looking over her receipt as she shakes her head.

"That's what sucks about cards." Emily comments alongside her as she holds all of Alison's bags, "People tend to swipe without calculating how much they already spent and how much they have left. It's better to walk with cash so you know what can be afforded so that way the moment you step foot out the house, you know how much you have to spend and all of your shopping choices are made accordingly."

"Yeah…my other pending orders from online probably just processed." Alison agrees as she puts the slip of paper into a compartment of her purse and taking out a stick of gum from an open pack she had. "_Damn_…" she clicks her tongue before she unwrapped the gum and placed it in her mouth.

Emily twists her neck at her girlfriend who was staring off in the distance in thought, "How much stuff are you buying, Ali?! It's just a few days!"

...

_Click!_

"Fashion is six months out of step with the earth's calendar seasons, so what's going to be shown in New York, London, Milan and Paris this fall is for 2016 spring and summer."

_Click!_

"Fall and winter collections are shown in February and March. The in-between seasons are referred as "Resort" which is the one we're going to. It's for clothes that hit stores in mid-winter and pre-fall for mid-summer."

_Click!_

Alison fluffs out her hair to her liking as she observes herself in Emily's full length closet mirror. Sitting on the edge of her bed while looking at the mini screen, Emily looks over her new addition to her gallery before she exits out and raises her camera to eye-level. Adjusting the lenses and…

_Click!_

"Even though Resort tends to be a bit smaller than the big time Fashion Weeks," Alison turns to face Emily with a small glow in her face, something Emily has been seeing more and more lately. "I am so grateful that Hanna did this for you."

Emily sets the camera down on her lap as she shakes her head, silently chuckling. "She didn't do this for me, she did this for us. She knows I'm not into that scene." she rolls her eyes playfully before she points at Alison with the camera still in her grasp, "_You're_ the fashion expert."

Alison modestly glances down at her dress with a small smile before it fades away rather quickly. "Other than my advisors and a few snobby people in class, I don't know anyone personally who goes to Fashion Week regularly. And not just regularly goes, but sits at the big private events. The shows that you'll see people like Cara Delevingne, Anna Wintour, and the Kardashians." Alison lowers her voice a bit as she turns back to the mirror and admires her newly brought dress. "I have so many questions…"

"And I'm sure she has so many answers." Emily smiles. The thought of Hanna bonding with Alison, similar to what she walked into when she and Ali were in her room, made her light up. They had so much in common and she would give anything for them all to just relax around each other's presence. _Like friends_. "You guys should have a little fashion girl talk, let her tell you the secrets and the little in's and out's of what to expect and stuff like that."

Alison stares at herself in the mirror with an unreadable face, taking in Emily's words for a second coupled with her and Hanna's past for a brief moment before she spun back around to Emily. Her arms lifted at her sides in a presentable manor and smile now back on her face. "You like?"

"_I love_." Emily smiles back with an even bigger grin.

Alison tilts her head down slightly as she stares at Emily with a narrowing gaze. She slowly struts, inching towards her and before Emily knew it, Alison threw a leg over her lap and was sitting on her at eye-level.

"_How much_?"

They held their sporadic, intense stare with Emily silent for a few seconds. Feeling the warmth of Alison's body on hers, Emily was completely hypnotized by Alison's sudden change of emotions. Without saying anything or another second's waste, Emily swiftly lifted her camera up in front of her and clicked the capture button, not hesitating so Alison had a chance to change her face. It was something in her eyes, the hunger of desire that was rapidly starting to engulf her made her appearance go from sweet to dangerous. Emily wanted to seize that moment.

_The look. _

Her eyes. It was something she wanted to print out on a life-size poster and place on her ceiling above her bed. The crisp blue flames that danced in the longing want of passion, a different passion then she saw during their pillow-fort night. This passion was relaxed yet intense. It was affectionate yet domineering.

Alison gently pulls the camera out of Emily's hand and leans over to the side to place it on the floor before she straightens back up and pushes a flat hand on Emily's chest to lay her down on the bed. There is no contesting on Emily's part as she lets whatever happen, happen, surrendering all control to Alison as to what she wanted to do with a relaxed smile on her face. Alison tosses her hair over her shoulders as she bows down to hover above Emily, staring down at for a brief moment.

"I love you."

Emily relaxation glowed a few shades brighter as her eyes inadvertently drops down to Alison's lips before she glances back up to her eyes.

The words felt so natural coming out; to be said and said to. It was almost surreal to Emily because for so long, she's had these pent up feelings towards Alison. For a moment, she felt like she was falling too hard too fast and with Alison not reciprocating the same level of emotions, Emily felt as if maybe she was setting herself up for heartbreak. There have been many moments where Emily felt like she was putting too much weight on Alison, thinking that she's rushing things with the amount of affection she had towards her. For the most part in the beginning, Alison was incredibly closed off and didn't go deep enough to relay her feelings for Emily so this created the message that Emily was maybe doing "too much".

But that night, when Alison rolled over and confessed everything that she was dealing with inside, Emily couldn't hold back the tears. It's been so long since she's put so much effort into someone, she thought she was smothering her. That's why she wanted to hear Alison say it. That she loved her. So she knows that she wasn't in this alone.

"_I love you too, baby._" Emily smiles. She lifts a hand to caress the side of Alison's face before she leaned upwards to close the gap in-between them and softly kissed her. Alison closes her eyes as she melts into Emily's kiss quicker than anticipated. Her hands glide up to Emily's and she pulls her hand off of cheek and places them on her waist as her body completely rests on top. As they lose themselves inside the softness of each other's lips, Alison grasps Emily's face with both hands to get a sense of more closeness as Emily caresses Alison's sides through the fabric of her dress.

"_Mmmm_-wait a second." Emily pulls out of the kiss, causing Alison to look down at her curiously, not sure why she abruptly stopped. "I don't think…" Emily's eyes drop down to Alison's frame as her fingers slowly make their way towards her back and down to her sides again, "You want to ruin this nice dress, _right_? I mean, what if you need to return it?"

The slick, mocking-like words floating from Emily's subtle smirk made Alison laugh lightly before she sat straight-up with Emily following to sit up as well, her hands still on Alison's body.

"Then take it off me." Alison dared her with a dangerous flicker of a smile in her eyes. Emily held that electricity of a gaze when she raised her hand behind her back and felt the small zipper, pulling it down to give Alison the space she needed to move out comfortably. Emily, then, tugs down the shoulders of the dress painfully slow for her own secret pleasure. Although some people like to rush to open their presents, Emily is one to savor the moment. Alison's hands rub gently on Emily's hips as her skin was touched by a breeze of air, revealing pink bra Alison was wearing underneath her dress. Emily fought herself to keep her eyes up with Alison but she quickly gives way when she drops to Alison's chest. Her breathing slowed as she continued to slide the dress downwards in means of removing it. How much Emily wanted to slip Alison out of her bra as well was killing her but she remained calm until suddenly Alison raised herself off of Emily's lap.

This felt like a movie.

Alison grabs onto the dress hanging around her waist and slowly pulls them down with Emily's eyes glued to her hands and mouth left partly open. Any other time, Alison would cringe at doing this, especially without any music or any kind of ambience. However, at this exact moment, she felt so charged, so stimulated that she was willing to strip out of her dress for Emily without any second thoughts.

With her stomach now exposed, Alison arches her back and swings her blonde waves over her shoulder as the dress now at her hips. She bows her head slightly to stare at Emily with trained, lustful eyes before she sauntered her way in-between her legs. Emily's head lifts up in almost a dazed state as Alison stood before her.

"_Take it off_." Alison growled.

And just like that, Emily's throat went incredibly dry. She's never seen Alison so confident and demanding in the light she was in now. It reminded her of the years back during the "Queen Bee" era, how she would snap her fingers and people would fall right into attention. But given their current situation, Emily would be lying through her teeth if she said she wasn't the least bit turned on.

She was on automatic mode.

Emily holds onto the dress and tugs them with enough force for it not to be a struggle, yet with the tempo for it to maintain the amazingly erotic atmosphere Alison created. As she moves her hands to Alison's back, using the excuse of the dress to touch and glide her hands over Alison's ass, Emily is unable to contain herself any longer before she leans in and begins places kisses on Alison's warm stomach. Alison's hands rest on Emily's head, stroking her hair as the dress now falls to her ankles and she is able to lift her feet up and out of it, pushing it to the side. She now stood before Emily in her hot pink ensemble of matching bra and panties.

She felt…._powerful_.

As Emily continues to kiss her body, Alison lowers her hands to tug on Emily's shirt. She wanted it off. Emily leans her lips off Alison and allows her to grab a hold of her shirt and pull it over her head to expose her bra underneath. Throwing it to the side, Alison places two fingers under Emily's chin to bring her attention back up at her. They stare at each other quietly for a few seconds before Alison reaches forward to give her a sweet yet firm kiss. Emily closes her eyes upon feeling Alison's lips, wanting to get lost in her before she pulled back.

"_I love you_." Alison sings softly with a small smile, showing the dimple in her cheeks while doing so.

"_God, I love you_." Emily responds back in a whisper as she extends her hand out and touches the side of Alison's face. She strokes her lightly, unintentionally staring at her mouth before her sights flicker up towards Alison's soft yet demanding eyes.

Alison lets her fingers trail down Emily's neck to her chest, where she puts her hand flatly on her to lay her down onto the bed. Without any hesitation, Emily lets herself fall into her mattress and even crawls backwards. further up the queen bed to give them all the space they needed. As Emily moves back, Alison's hand drags down the rest of her body until the come across the waistband of her jeans. Her fingers fly over the belt, undoing it, with her mind not thinking twice about it. All of a sudden, Emily's heart started racing as she tried to control her breathing. Throughout their sex life with each other, Alison has never been fully in command. There are times where she was in control of what she was doing to Emily but even then, Emily was still in full control of everything. But as time goes on and hands start moving to various places, Emily notices how this time around, Alison is currently the one cracking the whip.

Emily's jeans are pulled off her legs and tossed when Alison bows down and begins kissing Emily's soft stomach. Her hair tickles Emily's skin as she rubbed her hands simultaneously up and down her tanned thighs. A low sigh is released as Emily relishes in Alison's tender care. If Alison's goal was to turn Emily on, she already passed that platform the moment she told her to take her dress off.

Alison's fingers crawl up to the thin fabric of Emily's bikini and gradually starts pulling them down when Emily lifts herself up.

"_Ali_…you don't have to..." her forgiving eyes advise Alison before she moves any further. Ever since they've became sexual, there has been a set pattern when it comes to what is done to whom.

While Emily is thoroughly advanced, this was Alison's first same-sex relationship. There were some things she wasn't used to whereas a walk in the park for Emily. The biggest hesitation being oral. Throughout having sex, it is no secret how fast Emily can go down on Alison, but the most Alison has managed to accomplish is the act of fingering. And that is 100% understandable to Emily. It's a new territory. She would never rush Alison into something she wasn't ready to do. However, what Emily didn't know is that Alison has been working herself up to this exact moment. She knows what she wants and not only has she divulged in a bit of a research in her spare time (which was a definite learning experience), she has been secretly taking notes on how Emily does her part. Now that she's here, the last thing she needs is to be talked out of it. She knew thinking about it too much would prevent her from getting past the first step so, along with using researched related tactics to keep her mind at bay, Alison told herself that she was ready. She wanted to be able to bring pleasure to her girlfriend without holding back. If Emily doesn't restrict herself while loving her, why should she be giving Emily anything less than 100%?

Alison carries on pulling off the undergarment down her thighs, her legs, and removed them from around her ankles before she tossed them aside as well. Spreading Emily's legs apart, her heart began beating like a Travis Barker drum solo. Alison closes her eyes and lifts Emily's right leg, planting kiss trailing from her calves…to behind her knees…up her thighs…

Emily's breath hitches with every kiss, her senses heighten as she can feel her body crumbling down with sensitivity. She felt like she was experiencing her first time all over again. She didn't mind that Alison never went down on her. Honestly, she didn't. It didn't even come to mind whenever they had sex. Emily would be so far gone ravishing Alison that she didn't care how she got off. But right now, being on the receiving end, she felt a twinge of nervousness speeding through negative _what if_ scenarios in her head.

This can go really good…._or really bad._

Getting accustomed to a particularly new position, the stimulation of Alison's senses were immediate. The closeness of being so personal, more than before, Alison's sights were the first to be roused. The smoothness of Emily's bare skin, her inner lips gently parted like the petals of a flower, and partial glaze that has already begun to glisten like morning dew on those said petals. It was erotic, inducing, and almost delectable upon glimpse.

"_Magnolia_…" Alison mumbles lowly to herself, meaning for it to be more mental than audible, as her eyes flutter close, turning her face to the side as she kisses Emily's inner thigh again.

Emily ears perk at the slight murmur of Alison's voice, not catching what she said but the moment she felt her lips on her leg, her head falls back onto the bed in long anticipated breaths.

With the side of her face resting on Emily thigh, her leg raised onto her shoulder, Alison goes to the basics of what she knows to 'warm' Emily up. The tip of her middle finger trailed from the clit down to the opening and back up again, slowly yet deliberately circling Emily as she turns and plants another kiss on her warm thigh.

A hand lands on Emily's forehead as she laid and took the torture-session of Alison teasing her. Throughout the couple of times they've had sex, Alison learned fairly quickly and would take her time to make sure Emily was able to enjoy. But this is the first time, the roles were reversed and Alison was actually exploring her. It reminded her so much of their second time together when she was living in the moment, touching Alison, to the point she lightly smiled to herself.

The smile quickly melted into a stiffened moan when she felt Alison's finger slip inside of her. Already being aroused at a rapid speed, it didn't take long for Alison to add in a second finger, just as she grew to notice how Emily liked it. She stroked her cautiously, twisting just a bit while Emily began to stretch out her other leg, reveling in the soft touches. Her thumb was soon also utilized, rubbing Emily's clit in gentle but firm circular motion. This causes Emily to let out a series of sighs which, fortunately, was like the beginning of a symphony to Alison's ears.

Within Emily, with the gradual stimulus she was receiving, for a moment, she couldn't remember how she got here. One moment she was being a critic towards Alison trying on her new purchases, and within a blink of an eye, clothing were shed and skin was exposed. But if there was one thing for sure, she couldn't shake the feeling of how sensual this was, how vulnerable she felt under Alison's hands and lips on her thigh that she would periodically kiss, creating sensitivity due to the repetition.

_God, I hasn't been this submissive since high school._

Licking her lips, Alison begins kissing farther up Emily's thighs for a couple of seconds before she gently removed her leg resting upon her shoulder. Before Emily was able to open her eyes, Alison's thumb was replaced by a drawn out lick from her tongue, sending Emily into a soft gasp at the warm contact. The gasp was prolonged into a steady moan as Alison took in strides as she continued to twist her fingers in a corkscrew like fashion. With the fluidity of her mouth, Alison gradually licked around the firmness of the clitoris for a few moments before she slipped out her now coated fingers. She dared to elongate her tongue to reach the soft, almost gelatinous texture of the inner lips and, ultimately, slid against them.

Having the main concern on her mind being scent and taste, Alison was internally surprised that, other than the faint cocoa butter body lotion Emily was wearing, there was really no smell. Along with that, the taste is what really caught her attention. Unlike how society makes it seem like, with the unrealistic spectrum of a girl tasting either like some kind of seafood entrée or a blissful and sugary fruit platter with no in-between, she was intrigued to find that there also wasn't much of a potent "flavor" neither. However, there was a taste. As she continued to curiously lick within the outline, she was able to acquire some kind of essence. Sweet and salty.

Damn near surprised herself, Alison couldn't help but to glance up at Emily to see her reaction as her mind hopelessly roams to the night she stumbled upon information that interested her tremendously. Other than being told by Dr. Elliot about oxytocin, the internet told her about _pheromones_.

**da_weed_cousin**** asks: I'm curious…do people genuinely enjoy going down on a girl? What's the odor and taste like? What makes it enjoyable?**

**I'm 18 and have a gf and am nervous to perform oral on her. Can you guys give me some tips? I really do like her and don't want this to be a deal-breaker between us. Thanks!**

**_120 comments_**

**redfishbluefish:**** stop being a pussy and eat the pussy**

"**_Wow_****. That was very encouraging…" Alison scoffs to herself dryly as she scrolled down the page to find a serious informative reply.**

**Hunstman7224:**** I was once like you. Pretty scared but to be honest, man, as long as she keeps herself clean and well-groomed, you should have no problems. The first time I ate out my gf, it became my favorite pastime VERY quickly.**

**iHateiPhoneUsers:**** Here's the deal. You're going to be dealing with everything in her natural state. The natural scent of a woman contains pheromones, her taste contains pheromones, the whole nine. If the pheromones of a particular woman suitably matches up with a set pattern encoded in your own odor reception senses, you will find yourself attracted to her for that alone. Also, if/when you are physically attracted to the woman, her pheromones will make you interpret her "taste" as salty honey (given she's clean and all that jazz. Her diet means everything as well so if she's a healthy chick, you're in for a ride). Just go in there with a positive outlook and honestly enjoy yourself. What you SHOULD be worried about is her bucking and suffocating you with her legs when she's close to her orgasm. And for that, I tell you to HOLD ON, PARTNER! Firmly wrap your arms around her thighs so she doesn't snap your neck.**

**Alison leans back away from her laptop and chews on her inner bottom lip, thinking about ultimately getting herself prepared and comfortable enough to do this. **

**_I am going to do this? Right?_**

Alison's eyes stay on Emily as her face is kept still in her position. The sight from where she was held an intriguing view that she's never particularly seen Emily in. The little mound above her vulva gives way to that small line below the belly button, which is a little whirlpool between two island hipbones. Her abs slope back up to breasts, and between them, her collarbones, topped by the ligaments of her neck that happened to stick out when Alison slurped her up, causing her to clench.

Emily outstretches her hand out besides her in the empty space of sheets as she feels herself losing control extremely fast. It's been such a long time since she's received oral that she almost forgot how thrilling it was. Not to mention Alison, someone who she just confessed her love for, was the one who creating this sense of euphoria. Emily opens her eyes and scales down just to find Alison already looking up at her as her mouth and fingers moved simultaneously in a fluent speed. Emily's breaths were low and drawn-out while Alison pulls out and rests her hands on Emily's leg as she replaces her movements with the slick, wet sound of her tongue parting her lips. Emily's mouth opens involuntarily, letting out a throaty moan with Alison feeling the smoothest velvet in her mouth.

"_Fuck_…." Emily hisses out with a small laugh. She reaches down to comb Alison's hair out of her face so she could really see her. "You are so beautiful." her admire comes out in a rasp of a whisper as she tried to hold her composure. However, with every move Alison creates, her arms starts to become incredibly weak. She feels like she took a hit and the high was finally kicking in, causing her limbs to feel heavier than usual. She's not going to last. Emily forces herself to sit up halfway on her weak elbows and passes her hand through Alison's soft hair again. Doing so, an electric shiver tingled throughout her hand and up her arm. This whole moment was damn surreal. Beyond surreal.

Their eyes shared a telling gaze of affirmation as Alison's tongue circled her fragile slit. Emily's mouth fell into an oval shape as did Alison's who was beginning to lose herself in the moment. Focused on nothing but her and, subconsciously, her movement patterns. She was so warm inside, so….tantalizing. Deep within her mind, she would have _never_ imagined that at any point in her life she would be settled in between a pair of legs that didn't have a penis. The fact that her face was nuzzled in between a pair of feminine legs that belonged to the girl she actually loved, she was surprisingly enjoying every fleeting second of it. More than she expected.

"_Alison_…" Emily's throat goes dry through her low moan as she finds herself trying to catch her breath, "That's feels…you….you're doing so good. You feel so good, baby."

"_Mhmmm_…" Alison hums back, self-patting herself as she watches Emily physically become undone right before her eyes.

"_Shit!_" Emily hisses out as the vibration of Alison's muffled response adds to the sensation of her lips that were temporarily sealed around her clit along with the various techniques she was trying out. At this moment, she was ultra-sensitive and any slight extra movement was causing senses to become more intense than usual. She throws her head back, sighing out loudly, before the rest of her body followed and fell into the mattress as Alison's hands calmly rested upon Emily's stomach, lightly grazing her nails against her skin in random shapes while she splayed her tongue flat, hungrily lapping every inch of her.

Alison could hear her frantic groans of necessity as she traced the silky seams. Her saliva dribbled out, lathering the flesh like a gaunt savage with its first real feast. Her fingernails dug into Emily's tanned skin, raking across her navel ever so wickedly as her hot breath cascaded upon the quivering skin that made Emily violently thrust her fist into the bed.

"_You're gonna make me cum._" Emily whines as she twists her hips against Alison's mouth. "Don't stop. Don't stop. _Don't_…._stop_…" Emily gasps into the silence, her eyes rolled back into closed lids while Alison kept up her pace, not stopping just as Emily ordered. Alison's hands slide towards Emily's raised and tightened back, caressing her body with her eyes glued onto Emily's face before she drew out a long wailing breath. Alison felt the tight contractions against her tongue as Emily shudders out soft cries out of ecstasy, lifting her hips off the bed several times through the wave of her orgasm that lasted a little longer than Emily could remember was normal.

Alison's hands drops and wraps around Emily's thighs as she involuntarily attempts to close her legs from the stimuli of Alison's mouth. Automatically thinking back to one of the comments under the posts she read, Alison tightly held on while Emily gradually brought herself back to earth from the orgasmic trip she went on. Alison slowly removed herself just as Emily strengthened enough energy to sit herself up and reach for Alison's face, pulling her in for a smothering kiss. They eagerly grasp for each other as Emily wastes no time to draw Alison into her mouth. Alison climbs herself up Emily's body before Emily abruptly leans back.

"Where the hell did you learn _that_?" Emily asks through her breathless pants, looking at Alison up and down with her face still firmly in her grasp.

Alison chuckles darkly as she leans into Emily through her low eyes that still focused on Emily's soft, plump lips. "_From you_." she mutters out, biting her lip with a smile.

Emily shakes her head, removing a hand from Alison's cheek just to wag a finger at her. "I need to watch out for you…" she advises aloud with caution, "You're dangerous."

Alison laughs and pushes through for another kiss, latching onto Emily's bottom lip with a seductive hum. Getting through an obstacle she worried herself over for a small amount of time, she was on a high right now and she didn't want to come down any time soon

...

Through their naked and glistening bodies, Emily holds Alison's waist tightly within her wrapped arms with Alison sitting up, straddling her thighs with their chests pressed into each other. Alison grips Emily's lower face as she kisses her deeply and vehemently. It was like being home, their passion turning somersaults inside them as they felt their tongues stroke each other, soft and sensual, exploring and sensing. It was exquisite and full of longing. Like they were lovers from some Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel who had spent lifetimes apart, finally being able to be together and not wanting to let each other go. Alison pushes forward a bit, making Emily fall onto her back as they roll onto their side with Alison leg rested on Emily's hip and the other tangled with Emily's leg. Still holding each other, not missing a beat as they laid, kissing each other, perfectly in position together like a puzzle piece.

Emily removes one arm from around Alison and drapes it down until her fingers are merely brushing Alison's inner-thigh. Alison's hands roam Emily's body as well as she ran her hands down Emily's back and round onto her ass, pulling her closer to her. Their kissing now deeper and harder, they could feel each other's breasts against their chest as Alison's hands now ran up her back and into her glossy hair, holding Emily against her. Two of Emily's fingers eased Alison's slick lips apart and sunk into her wetness far too easily, like she was sucking her in. Her thumb delicately swiping her swollen clit, Emily worked her pacing as she was deliberately fingering her, pushing in, circling and stroking her glistening center.

Alison moves against Emily's fingers, riding in a smooth wave to follow Emily's rhythm while her gentle moans syncopates with her overall pleasuring. Alison slides from Emily's hair to her face as she gazes into her large brown eyes that stared back at her with greed. The greed of bringing Alison to that mind-numbing point all over again after doing it so many times already. The satisfaction of watching her lose control due to something she did makes her yearn after it like an addict. She picks up the tempo, pumping in and out of her as Alison slides her finger tips down Emily cheeks, tugging on the corner of her lips before Emily snakes to the side to consume Alison's finger into her mouth. Alison gazes drift's downwards in a slight daze as she watches Emily proceed to suck on her slowly. Her lips parts faintly as her breathing became heavier with Emily challenging her to maintain eye contact. The bobbing of Emily's head enticed her like nothing before as the seconds go by before Alison gradually pulls out of her mouth, seemingly hypnotized by the sight.

"Do you feel me, baby?" Emily rasps out a whisper as she squeezes Alison's side tighter.

Alison nods coyly, bringing her bottom lip in-between her teeth as her brows furrow, concentrating on Emily in front of her but getting distracted by Emily inside of her.

"I love you." Alison whimpers out, trying to keep her eyes focus and not closing them despite the overwhelming feeling that tells her to.

A small smile slides across Emily's lips as she lifts up her arm from around Alison's waist and move towards the side of Alison's neck, holding her there as they're face to face. "You're my everything."

"Emily…"

"Yes?"

Silence hushes over her as she feels she's brought to the brink once more. Her stomach knots up along with the tensing of her body as she tries to push out her words. "I love-" she trails off in a sharp inhale. Her chest raises higher with mouth left open as she keeps Emily's gaze. "_I love you_." she repeats but much weaker.

Emily runs through Alison's hair, smoothing it down just to hold her cheek in her palm. Alison clutches her face tighter with both hands and her breathing coming out in quivers. They were together, right there, in the moment and Alison felt she was seconds away from bursting out of her skin.

"_Show me_." Emily whispers into her, searching into her eyes penetratingly. "Show me how much you love me."

And with that push, Emily saw the dilation in Alison's eyes expand just moments before sound followed. Alison leans her head back as she lets out a thick outcry in choppy hoarse moans, giving Emily the chance to kiss on her exposed neck while her fingers were within the wall spasm that tightened around her like a warm fist. Alison's deep panting subdues after fifteen long seconds as she continues to feel Emily attack her hot skin, pressing into her in the process.

Alison runs a hand through her hair, blinking up at the ceiling as Emily's tempo of kisses slows down and Alison is able to go back to her ability to function with all her senses back.

"Four times..." Emily comments with chin resting on Alison's collarbone as she gazes up at her admiringly.

Alison glances down at her, still reeling a bit from her high. "Orgasms?"

"Times you said you loved me." Emily smiles sweetly. Alison captures the small twinkle in Emily's eyes and she can't help but to return the smile back. She didn't realize they were keeping count but she can't help it. It's always on the tip of the time when she's around Emily. It's words that she can no longer and refuses to hold back.

"I would say it 20 times more tonight because I do. I love you, Emily Fields."

She leans down and pressed her lips against Emily's for a loving peck that turns into a few rounds of small kisses before they pull away and stare at each other with smiles, Alison stroking Emily's face as they lay on each other.

"...Also you orgasmed about 4 times as well, if you were wondering as well." Emily adds in shamelessly with a cocky chuckle.

"And that's all you're getting out of me today." Alison throws her head back with a groan. Sex between them has been getting better and better with time and more awareness about each other's bodies but although thrilling in every way, it's also _exhausting_. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea." Emily sighs and spots her phone on the night side on her side so, without letting go, she rolls over so that Alison is on top of her as she reaches for her phone and opens the lock screen. "Right now it's...7:22."

"_Shit! The dinner!_" Alison wiggles out of Emily's clutches and scrambles off the bed to her feet in a sudden sense of urgency. "I totally forgot!"

"Are you supposed to be cooking?" Emily sits up in the bed, watching Alison frantically look around for her phone that she placed somewhere.

"I don't know, we never established that." Alison finds her phone a few moments later on a charger and checks to see if she had any missed calls or messages. Now, some people wouldn't see the rush. It's just a dinner, it's not like you're late to a business meeting or anything. However, Alison had high hopes for the night and she wanted it to run smooth from beginning to end. Starting off late and disorganized can be precursor for what's to come and she just wants to avoid anything negative. Unknown by the other two, this dinner is more important to her than they think.

"Oh, I gotta take a shower." she comments aloud for no particular reason as she moves towards Emily's dresser and gathers a simple thrown-together outfit from the small selection of clothes that she's left over for those moments when she would stay over.

"Right." Emily stands up as well. She attempts to follow after Alison before she was stopped.

"Nonono. You can't come in. We'll be even _more _late with your _shenanigans_."

"Okay but why waste water when you can save the planet and not waste it? Besides the water bill is too high as it is."

"You don't even pay for water."

"Shh!" Emily grabs Alison by her shoulders and spins her around to the direction of the bathroom, pushing her in. "Let's goooooo. We must get clean!"

...

Emily and Alison approach Alison's door with the faint aroma seeping through the cracks. Alison looks back at Emily with an intrigued look as she places her key in the lock. Opening the door, not only did the smell of cooked food smack them both in their faces, old alternative throwbacks playing from Alison's television created some kind of odd warmly comfort.

_Did Jason actually cook?_ Alison asks herself as she walks through her entry farther into the apartment just in time to see Jason finish making his plate and setting a cover on one of the pots that was perched on top of the stove. His face turned to see Emily looking around and a pleasantly surprised Alison.

"Welcome." Jason smiles as he dusts a hand on his jeans and sets his plate on the counter next to him. He reaches for the remote nearby and lowers the music now that he wasn't alone.

"You did this?" Alison points to the food with an amazed laugh as she slowly makes her way into the kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind. I went into the fridge and improved what I could. Made a quick run to the store to pick up a few things to add. Particularly because I'm kinda craving steak." he adds in shamelessly through a grin.

Alison crosses her arms, thoroughly impressed at the kind gesture with a smile still left on her face. "I don't ever remember you cooking let alone touching a pot or pan. Like _ever_."

"Well, I can't take all the credit. Without YouTube, I think we all would be enjoying TV dinners tonight." Jason extends a hand out, nodding his head towards the stove, hoping for Alison to take. Being in an already set good mood, Alison places her hand in his and allows him to lead her to the dinner he made for all three of them. Emily watches on as she follows behind them, still a stranger to the sight before her. Jason stands behind Alison, putting a hand on her shoulder as he directs her to what he made.

"What I've made for tonight in pot number one," Jason pulls a hand towel off his shoulder and uses it to lift the lid of one of the red pots to the far left, unveiling a first impression of red and yellow right off the bat upon sight, "you have some ravioli. I saw you've been having that bag of frozen ravioli so I cooked it with some of that pasta sauce and shredded some Monterey Jack to top it off."

Alison peeks further inside the pot and with a small pout, "I don't see anything burned. So far so good." she turns to look at Emily and waves her over to see what Jason made. Emily walks up behind them and takes a glance at the food and politely nods to disguise her careless attitude to it all. However, for the first time….ever, Jason and Alison looked like siblings to her. Their interaction of Alison looking up and him while he talked like a little sister and Jason, being the older brother, speaking with a sense of proudness that he was able to do something constructive made Emily warm up just a tad bit.

Jason opens the second medium-sized pot for a fresh steam to radiate out. "Steamed veggies. About as plain as it gets." Moving onto the last pan that he used, he uncovers to reveal the craving he had. "Strip loin steaks that I picked up. It's almost done. I marinated it actually." he nods almost feeling accomplished that he was able to cook something successfully. The amount of excitement visibly showed in his face and his voice. It was something Alison hasn't seen in an incredibly long time. She almost forgot what it looked like. Using his fingers to count of he looks up to the ceiling to recall everything.

"Used olive oil, garlic, Worcestershire, vinegar, soy sauce, pepper, and some mustard. I know the mustard sounds crazy but I think it's going to come out good."

"Thank you for this, Jason. _Really_." Alison acknowledges him with an appreciative smile, "You didn't have to."

"I almost didn't. I was going to order out and try to pass it as my own but then again," Jason looks up at Emily who stared at him with narrowed, questionable eyes, "how hard could cooking be?" he questioned with a chuckle.

"Ask the people on Iron Chief America." Alison comments as she picks out a steamed carrot and popped it into her mouth. Jason playfully swats at her leg with his hand towel gaining a tiny giggle from Alison as she sets her stuff down on the counter and washes her hands. He doesn't know what it was but so far this evening had a relaxing, friendly vibe to it. Something that never occurred since he's been here but Alison being receptive to his light demeanor made things less tense then he thought it would be. Although, there was still one person that was a part of this equation. Jason extends his hand as the only way he knew he could greet Emily especially with everything that has been brewing between them. But tonight, he hopes they can move forward from everything and start new.

"Thank you for coming, Emily."

Emily glances down at his hand for a split moment before she looked back at him. She firmly grips his hand in a tight handshake with a half yet knowing smile. "Wouldn't pass up a meal."

...

With everyone settling with their water and plate of food, Alison sits between Emily and Jason with Jason being to her right and Emily sitting at the head of the table to her left. Before anyone was able to dig into the food, Alison lays her palm facing up on either sides of her. Jason glances down and without any longing seconds passing, he takes her hand as Emily sees the gesture and follows as well. It was a silent communication shared between them all but to Alison, there needs to be some kind of prayer of peace before this dinner began.

"Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the delicious food on our table, for the hands that made it, and for you, who make it all possible." as Alison prays aloud, Emily opens her eyes, looking at Alison first but ultimately ending up on Jason. She's not sure what it is or how this night is going to end up but she's fully prepared for anything that was going to come her way. Nobody offers a "sit-down" without some kind of ulterior motive. And the more Alison prays the more she sees this as _the last supper. _

"Please bless the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us…Amen."

"Amen."

"Amen."

Jason resists himself from jumping into his own plate just to watch the reaction of Alison and Emily trying out his cooking. Alison goes for the ravioli while Emily begins to cut off a piece of the steak when she catches Jason's eyes on her. She's taken back but the blatant stare and slows her tempo of cutting, not knowing why the hell he was eyeing her the way he was. Alison takes in a piece of her pasta draped in sauce and cheese and chews for a moments' time to taste everything. Both sets of eyes are on Alison as she eats and after a silent few seconds, Alison points down at her plate with her fork with a head nod.

"This is pretty good, Jason." she licks the corner of her mouth, still nodding, "Like, actually good."

Jason lets out a sigh of relief through a smile, "_Good_. Good, that's good, thank you." he grabs his utensils and begins to eat out of his own plate as Alison passes a look over at Emily who hasn't tried her food yet. Her encouraging head point to her plate causes Emily to go back to cutting a piece of her steak before she places it in her mouth and chews. Jason looks up at her to watch her initial reaction to the food as well and as time goes by, Emily curls up the corner of her lips with a strained smile and nods her head as well.

"It's good." she says out of the corner of her mouth. Jason thanks her as well before shoving down a spoonful while Alison smiles at her, taking her foot and brushing it against Emily's ankle under the table in gratitude. Emily returns the expression as she continues to chew. She wasn't lying. The steak actually came out pretty well but she's still not letting anything pass.

_Just because he can season meat doesn't mean I like him._

The table is silent for a long, excoriating ten seconds of everyone's utensils hitting plates and cups being moved as they ate and drank but Alison couldn't stand it. She can't stand the awkward silence. She needs this night to go well.

"Did you know that Emily swims for her school and made it to the championship back in March?" Alison strikes up a random conversation just to get the flow of ease moving between all three of them.

"_Mmm_." Jason mutters as he swallows his food, nodding away. "Yeah, I did. Actually…one of my mentors is a fan of yours."

"_Really?_" Alison turns to look at Jason with a hint of wonder in her face as Emily mirrors the reaction with an eyebrow raise of her own.

"Yeah, he graduated from there. He's really into swimming and archery. Big nut for that stuff. In his classroom there is a TV and he had the channel it was on when it was happening. I watched just a bit of it. It was intense, surprisingly." Jason says as he scoops up some ravioli and takes a bite. "You kicked some ass out there."

Alison turned and looked at Emily with a proud smile, lightly bouncing in her chair, happily. "She did." Emily smiles back at her before Alison spoke up again, still holding her gaze. "I actually went there."

Jason stops mid-chew, resting his forearm on the table with his fork still in hand. "You went all the way out there?"

"Mhmm."

"You guys were dating still at this time?"

"Nope. Just friends."

"Hm." Jason nods with his eyes returning to his food in front of him. "That was one dedicated friendship."

The table gets quiet once again when the temporary conversation fades away. Alison is really beginning to hate this unsaid tension in the air between everyone. This night really has the potential to be "good" but with the knowledge of knowing that this was also like a therapy session, she feels it's holding them back. The sooner they rip the Band-Aid off, the sooner they can enjoy the dinner.

"_Okay_…" Alison puts down her utensil and folds her hands together, sitting with her back pressed against the chair before she looks between Jason and Alison. "Now, I know this dinner wasn't some random night where we just decided to eat together…but I want to get the talking out of the way so we don't have to sit here awkwardly, ignoring the big elephant in the room."

Jason and Emily shift a bit uncomfortably in their seats, passing quick glances an each other before they look back at Alison. The floor was open for anyone who wanted to speak first but the rush to stay something wasn't held up by anyone until Jason cleared his throat.

"I guess I'll start since I'm the middle man here."

All eyes fall on Jason, with Emily taking a sip of her water before she set it down and really focused on what he had to say. _This oughta be interesting. _

Jason pinches his lips together in silence as he tries to find the words to even start off this colossal discourse. He keeps his eyes low on his pasta sauce as he begins to speak.

"I have never been that….poster-board brother. The older brother that younger siblings always wanted. That _cool _brother. We just never had that kind of relationship growing up. You were the smaller sister that always had her way with everything and it's been a strong annoyance of mines throughout majority of our childhood."

He inhales deeply before pushing out a long sigh.

"When mom died, it was the worst day of my _entire_ life. The absolute worst day of my life. I felt like I lost my ground, my foundation, the glue that kept me together. But that's the whole problem…" Jason tilts his face in Alison's direction, instantly catching her eyes that were already on him. He stares deeply into her with his lips twisted up at the corners though his pause. "I've been thinking with "I" instead of "our" because we _both_ lost the foundation of our lives."

Alison fidgets, wringing out her hands under the table as she looks away from Jason. These were tough words. Although they may have some differences, the past still remains. They lost their mother. It doesn't get any easier every time they bring it up despite the time that has passed since then.

"I have been a completely selfish person. Being completely neglectful that you, too, were going through life changes. But I couldn't see that because I've been thinking about only my pain. I put the death of our mother on your back and-" his voice wavers within his words, causing Alison to look back at him with concerned eyes. "I am _so_ sorry, Alison. From the bottom of my heart to the top of it. I just..._God_…" Jason lifts his head towards the ceiling with his eyes searching in front of him and mouth turned into a frown, "Mom would be so disappointed in me right now. And she probably is..." A tear leaves Jason's eyes before he quickly bowed his head into his hand, trying to hold back the abundance of tears that wanted to come out.

Alison bites her inner bottom lip as she extends her hand to rub Jason's back. This is the first time she's seen Jason cry in a long time let alone give such an earnest acknowledgment of his mistakes. Just how she told Emily, their mother has always made them promise that they'd look out for one another and take care of each other. However, as soon as she died, it was as if there was no such thing as a "DiLaurentis family". There was so much hate and animosity between everyone that they felt more like strangers than an actual family. And she knew that her mom would be rolling in her grave knowing that her husband and children were so separated from each other.

"I want to be a person you can lean on and come to when you need help." Jason's voice cracks as he stares back at Alison with water-filled eyes and his nose gradually turning red. He tucks his hair behind his ear, turns in his chair, and holds onto Alison's hand inside of his own. "I want you to know I am here for you. I am truly, deeply, and regretfully sorry for being selfish and for hurting you. I have caused you pain and I wish you knew how unintentional it is. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I just so much want us to be a part of each other's lives. The way we _should_ be." he raises one of his hands to brush against Alison's warm cheek before he held her face, really holding her like he never did before, trying his best to hold a smile. "I love you so much, Alison, that I would do anything to protect you. You're _my_ baby sister."

Alison nods her head, allowing Jason to wipe away tears that escaped her throughout him talking, lifting her lips into a sad smile to match his. The last time Alison could remember Jason being this tender was when they were kids. And by kids, she means when she was very little, memories she barely has unless they were given to her from family recollections or home videos. Jason used to be _so _protective over her and carried her around like how a baby carries their stuffed animal; So much love and priority. However, when Jason became older and Alison became "the golden child", their relationship started to drastically change. Jason quickly started feeling like the black sheep of the family and began to act out. And as Alison was brought up like a princess and was able to talk, Jason and her were always on opposite ends of the spectrum.

_"**Lay where you're ****laying****! Don't make a sound. I know they're watching….They're watching."**_

**Standing in the middle of the living room, Jason taps his foot to a steady beat as his fingers fly up and down the buttons of the guitar controller he had strapped around him. Late 2009, Jason had just brought the brand new game that has changed the way music games were developed: Guitar Hero. With his head bowed and hair hanging in front of his face, Jason submerges himself into the loud volume of the TV that he cranked up and pretends that he's in front of the cheering crowd, playing one of his favorite songs with his favorite band. **

**With the way he was moving so easily, his body rocking against the guitar and surge of adrenaline running through his veins due to the current no miss streak he was on being on expert mode, he was away in his own world. Nothing to bother him.**

**_How he would love to play this song on a real guitar…_**

_"**Yeaaaah oooh**_**_….Your sex is on fire!"_ Jason belts loudly along with the lead vocals as he follows the rhythm on the screen. He flips his hair to the side as he just hit a 230 note streak. He was going to beat his record this time. He felt it.**

_"**Dark of the alley…the breaking of day. Head while I'm drivi-"**_

**The music abruptly disappears and screen changes, giving Jason a near heart attack. He spins around to see Alison with the TV remote in hand as she plops comfortably on the couch. **

"**You ****_wish_**** you could get head while you're driving."**

"**WHAT THE FUCK?!" Jason yells out, pressing the pause button on his controller although he knows it's too late and has lost everything he just worked for. "YOU SAW ME PLAYING!"**

"**So? Gossip girl is about to start and if you think for ****_one second _****I'm going to miss my show just to listen to you pathetically sing to a video game, you're just as dumb as you look."**

"**I never bother you whenever you're doing your shit!" Jason angrily huffs out. Not waiting for Alison's permission to continue his game, he manually switches the TV input back to the original screen. "Why can I not have a moment to my damn self without you coming in and ruining everything?"**

**Before Jason was able to create another move, with a press of a button, Alison changes the TV right back to where she had it. "You want privacy? Go to your room. At least there you can act like you're not smoking and jacking off to your Japanese porno comics."**

"**Who told you that you can go into my room?!" Jason steps into Alison, getting heated by the seconds with every smart remark that slips out of her mouth. **

**Alison upholds the challenge, not backing down. She flicks a brow as her smirk stays strong. "Struck a nerve, didn't I?" she smiles as she stares Jason down with the same intensity he is giving her. Jason's chest rises and falls heavily as he could just see himself flying off the handle. However, he stays calm. He's not about to bow down to some 15 year old.**

"**I think what you tend to forget is who has more power here." Jason reminds her with a low growl before he swiftly snatches the remote out of Alison's hands with her moving just a second too late. **

"**Give it back!" Alison jumps up and reaches for the remote but Jason and his height and arm length holds the advantage over her. Every time Alison jumped, Jason moved it higher, farther away. "Jason, give it back!"**

"**Hell no! You want to watch your stupid teen show, you go to one of your friends' houses."**

"**Jason!"**

"**What the hell is going on in here?!" Kenneth's voice booms through the living room, initially shocking both Alison and Jason at the sudden voice. He places his keys on a wall hanger as he keeps his narrowed eyes at his two kids fighting before him as soon as he gets home from a long day at work.**

"**Jason won't let me watch my show!" Alison was the first one to speak with an annoyed stomp, pout, and crossing of her arms. It may seem over-dramatic but she is a daddy's girl and with daddy's girl, with the right conviction, they usually get their way.**

**Kenneth shakes his head with bothered frustration as he walks into the living room, preparing to set his things down and settle in. "Jason, give your sister back the remote."**

**Jason's eyes bulge out of his sockets as Alison gives a small yet victorious smile the moment her father's eyes were out of sight. "What?! I was here fi-"**

"**Do not argue with me, boy!" Kenneth turns back around to face Jason. He was not in any kind of mood for backtalk. Not today. "Give Alison the remote."**

"**You've got to me ****_fucking _****kidding me!" Jason rolls his eyes as he chucks the remote onto the couch besides Alison.**

"**Watch your ****_damn _****language in this house." Kenneth now steps into Jason the same way he did to Alison just a minute ago. Both men stare at each other, face to face, before Kenneth speaks up again, this time his voice deep and firm. "Since you got so much pent up energy you need to release, get outside and start cutting the grass. It hasn't been tended to in weeks and it's started to look unkempt." **

**Jason clenches his jaw as his glare exchanges from his father to Alison. She sits on the couch, snuggled up with her legs brought into her and the remote in her grasp, silently taunting him with just a look alone. **

**_Gotcha, bitch._**

"**_Now_****, Jason." Kenneth reiterates with the harsh tone still in his voice.**

**Jason turns his head down, tightly griping onto his guitar. If he didn't pay $60 for this, he would have smashed it right into the ground and broke it into hundreds of pieces. His blood was boiling to that level. All he wanted to do is relax and unwind in peace but within five minutes, he had Alison on his ass with their father to back her up in a two vs one battle. Jason swallows hard and walks past Kenneth, biting his tongue as he leaves the living room and heads in the direction of his own room.**

"**Thanks, daddy." Alison turns up her face with a smile as she goes onto the TV, changing the channels until she finds the network for her show. **

"**You two need to stop fighting with each other. Your mother and I cannot live our lives pulling you guys apart every second of the day." Kenneth mumbles as he sighs out, leaving the living room in his way to the kitchen. "You're gonna end up killing one of us one day."**

Jason clears his throat as Alison held onto his wrist. The Alison he stared at was such a different person from the Alison he would have daily stare downs with years ago. It sometimes would blow his mind how much of a 180 turn Alison did. The younger Alison would look at him with authority, with such a challenge that she knew she would win every time if brought to her. But this Alison…..this Alison looked at him like a puppy being picked up out of a box, asking for a home to stay and love.

_She just wanted to be loved. _

Jason's eyes drift over to Emily who watched on in the background. Her eyes sagged at the corners as she heard the sniffles coming from Alison. She couldn't see her face but she knew she was crying. Whenever Alison lets you hold her face at such close proximity, she's vulnerable. Absolutely defenseless in your hands.

"I came into this house not knowing what I was going to walk into." Jason started talking again, this time his voice much stronger than last. "I was very hesitant to come here. I walked back and forth, yes then no, go then leave. It wasn't until I saw you laughing, stumbling your way back to your apartment, bumping me on the way. Seeing you and hearing your laughter….I told myself, w_hat do you have to lose at this point?_ I was surprised to see Emily, though, because…you know…I just never seen you guys hang out let alone talk or acknowledge each other."

Emily's emotions went from worried about Alison's well-being to defensive all in five seconds of her name being brought up. She was intrigued by the next words she knew was going to come out of Jason's mouth. She never really basked and thought about what Jason's reaction of them being together was and was curious to hear it from the man, himself now.

"I was even more surprised to find out you two were dating. I won't even lie. It shocked me. Watching you grow up, I've seen you interested in _a lot _of things but girls was never one of them. Whenever I think of you and girls, I always think of you bossing them around like a self-proclaimed queen of some sort not crushing on them." Jason lets out a tiny chuckle as Emily glares at him from behind and Alison trying to follow him with a grimace of a strained face. The lack of humor behind his statement caused him to get back on path and stay away from the jokes.

"Ha.._ahem_…" he clears his throat awkwardly. "But if I've learned anything, it's that love is love. You can't help who you fall for, you can't help who makes you feel things that nobody has ever had. You can't control that. And Emily…" Jason glances up at Emily who held a tight face at him, not knowing what he was going to say since they're not the closest of friends and have been deliberately trying to get under each other's skin since he arrived.

"She does that for you, I can tell." he changes back to Alison and her much more softer and yearning face, "It's _very_ apparent. To be honest, I would be holding out if I said that I wasn't somewhat relieved that I didn't have to go against some…jacked up, 6'2 guy who lounges himself at your place like a king and have you wrapped around his finger. But Emily….she holds herself up like a jacked up, 6'2 king, I'll tell you that. And I respect that, Emily. I truly do." Emily straightens herself in her chair, keeping a poker face as Jason addressed her. Alison turns her head to also look back at her. She gives her a light, supportive smile through the tears that have been running down her face. Although she's not fully on board with Jason, Emily can't help but to unstiffen and return the smile right back. All she wants is to see Alison happy.

"Anyone who can downright defend my sister and do anything to protect her gains my respect. Even if the person on the other side is me and I feel…disrespected at times, I'm glad someone is there for her."

Alison and Jason remove from each other's touch as Emily nods with an inner sigh released. With such an apologetic and sincere-sounding speech coming from him, anything negative from her mouth will totally make her look like a jerk, no questions asked. But, if you asked her, his speech felt.._too heartfelt_. He didn't invite them for a kumbaya session. They could have easily done this on a regular given day instead of making a big deal out of it via dinner. So, she's going to trail things how she knows how.

_What is the ulterior here?_

"You feel disrespected?" Emily lifts up her chin with her brows raised as she keeps her eyes on Jason.

Alison's head bows slightly with disappointment as she feels her stomach drop. Experiencing, what she would call, a progressive breakthrough without any negative reaction is something she thought Jason and her would never have but getting to that point was very well needed. But Emily….by the tone of her voice, Alison knew what was happening.

Emily was testing him.

Alison brushes her foot against Emily's leg, silently begging her not to start but just as Alison wanted her closure and questions answered, so did Emily.

"At times I feel disrespected, yes." Jason keeps his eyes to himself as he picks up his fork and knife and begins to get back into his plate. He's not going to be baited by Emily because he knows that's what she's doing. _Why the hell does this girl always want to fight?_

"Disrespected by me?"

"…Yes."

"In what way, exactly? How have I disrespected you?"

"By getting in my face when it's totally unneeded." Jason cuts into his steak while trying his best to stay on the same level he's been so far. "That night when you clapped in my face like I was some kind of child and not a grown ass man. When I would just try to be cordial and talk to you and you're ready to fight as if I did something to you."

Emily presses her lips together, tilting her head to the side with a small shrug. "Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way but at the same time, you shouldn't expect us to have this superb trust-fall relationship between any of us. You weren't there when it was your job to so excuse me if I'm not the most excepting person at this table."

"And that's why I wanted this dinner. So we can get everything out in the open and try again." Jason finally looks at Emily's direction. "Everyone deserves second chances, right? I mean, how many second chances have Alison already given you?"

"_Jason_-" Alison nudges to stop him from ruining any redemption moment they just had with this building fight with Emily. She just wanted this dinner to run smoothly and yet, it's turning out exactly the way she hoped it wouldn't.

"She doesn't need to give me any retries. I don't screw up in the first place." Emily returns the snark just as quickly with a tight smile to top it all off.

"Well, I'm glad, Emily." Jason turns away and bites off a piece of his food from his fork, nodding his head accordingly. "Alison doesn't need any more fuck-ups in her life…..She already has too many."

"She certainly does." Emily pitches in as she raises the rim of her glass of water to lips before adding in an additional side comment. "From Thanksgiving to today, you surely did a quick 180."

Jason tightens his jaw for a moment, staring off into his plate in a distant thought from that sudden remark before he starts chewing slowly again. "I'm trying. That's what happens when life kicks you in the ass."

"We all are trying…" Alison quietly speaks up, not having the energy to rise up over the bickering two. "It's not going to be easy but….we all are trying." Eyes move to her as she quietly took a small ravioli and placed it in her mouth. The apartment ran silent as Emily and Jason watch Alison take her time to chew and swallow before she spoke again. "That's all I ask for. For us to try…" without glancing over at either of them, Alison dug slowly into her steak as her eyebrows matched the frown her mouth wore, almost concentrated on the food in front of her but her mind elsewhere. "I just want my own little family that didn't fight….I just want us to be normal."

With such simple words through a small voice, Emily sinks in her chair, immediately losing the attitude she once upheld. Jason and Emily exchange a look at each other, not of anger or of spite but of shame before they settled back on Alison. Although for the life of her she couldn't fully swallow Jason, Emily was brought back to earth by Alison's subtle plea. No matter how she felt, the bitter tension was affecting Alison most and she didn't want to have any part of that at all. Right there Emily told herself she was going to try.

Try for Alison's little family.

**Talk about drama? What did you take from this dinner? With the stray dog analogy she gave Ali, she feels that he has to be kept on a leash. Is Emily being harsh on Jason or is it completely warranted?**

**21k words written out just for you, tell me how you felt! Trouvaille has two more chapters before this book ends, can you believe it? We're almost done :(**

**Alright, babes. I know it's been a while. We have a few things to go over so we're all on the same page about everything regarding Emison, you, and your author, AM. **

**First and foremost, the scheduling of updates. **

**How I have everything set up prior was to write, write, write, and then release in a boatload. However, whenever you make plans, life hands you a big sour lemon,**** of course. I got extremely last minute plans to move to a new state which means instead of taking my time to pack and doing everything at a steady pace, I have to pack and run around with a maniac like…now. So, with that being said, instead of prolonging waits any longer, I just hope that you guys bear with me from this point on. Luckily, the fanfiction app updated to where I can edit documents and upload chapters by going to the site so that helps a lot! **

**Now that's out the way, information on stories!**

**PLL is on a loooong break and Trouvaille is literally ending in two chapters. ****_What horror!_**** Except not, my Emisonian family. AcquiredMadness will be producing so much Emison in the meantime that you're going to feel as excited as Emily in a room full of women. As you know, the winner of ****_"Choose Your Own Emison"_****, Sinner's Lullaby, will be published in the coming of times. If you have noticed, on my page, I have placed a link called** **_Promotional Videos for Upcoming Emison Fic._**** That link will direct you to a folder of a few promos I've created just to get you ready for the new story you're about to embark on. If you have seen it, ****_please_**** let me know you're thoughts on it! I really think you guys will enjoy them! They require a little more thought watching it and maybe even theorizing and I would like to hear your feedback! I do only the best for you guys because if the show isn't doing it, somebody has to!**

**Also, there is brand new information up my sleeves for you all. Not only is SL going to be published and accessible to read, I am also releasing a small side story as well. Yes! You've heard right! Two Emisons fics for the price of one! Even though Sinner's Lullaby is one mouth-watering piece of Emison pie, it does have its down times where things are more dramatic then sexy. So, why not put out a little side dish to compliment the main meal? **

**This new story is called "_Art of Attraction_" and it will not take anything away from SL. It is not a full fic but merely a mini one for you guys to enjoy. It will not only feature Emison but most of the Rosewood gang, however, placed in a different location. I will release more details about the fic later as this story ends. I will give you a hint, though! Just being straight up honest, not everyone will particularly like this it BUT if you do read it…..I hope you enjoy frequent cold showers :)**

**Thank you for hanging on with me! Until the next update, loves.**


	33. Chapter 33: Wake Up

**Let's been so long since I've seen your face.**

**I've missed you.**

**If you don't already know, the poll that I put out last summer for you guys to pick which story for Emison you want me to do next has came to life. Cat &amp; Mouse aka "Sinner's Lullaby" is now out, already three updates in. Granted, those three updates are the prologue to the story but I think you might enjoy it.**

**Back to what you've all been waiting for.**

CHAPTER #33: Wake Up

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

_Today feels like a good day._

That's what had Alison smiling to herself as she leaned against her kitchen counter, flipping through the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar, one of her fashion magazine subscriptions. The dinner last night with Emily was rocky, just as she feared, but it brightened up towards the middle and even had an exceptional end, if she dared to say. While she and Jason were having more moments, reminiscing about the better times growing up, Alison felt Emily's unsaid tension of being a third wheel. She tried her best to bring Emily in, switch focuses, and talk about them but the stiffness still sat there at the table. Alison may not of had the pleasure of knowing Emily all of her life, or even for a full year, but she knows Emily well enough to tell the difference between the real her and the masked her.

The distinction is vast.

"**So, next week, not this next week but next week starting Sunday, Emily is taking me to resort fashion week in New York." Alison beams with happiness as she bounces in her seat, looking at Emily as she tells Jason this news.**

"**Wow, that awesome…" Jason nods while takes a spoonful of his food and raises it to his lips. "What is resort fashion week?"**

**Alison turns to her brother with almost an unbelievable glance. "Fashion week." she restates as if he was supposed to get it the third time it's said. **

"**I….I'm sorry, I'm not as informed." he laughs with the side of his mouth stuffed with ravioli. "I'm a boring, non-stylish dude."**

"**Well, in a quick and fast version, fashion week is when the fashion industry's designers, whether huge names or smaller ones, present their upcoming collections in a series of runway shows. It's a pretty big deal and for the bigger ones, not everyone can get into unless you're a celebrity or have an invitation."**

**Jason's neck snaps to Emily as he swallows down hard. "Emily is a celebrity invite?!"**

"**Nonono," Alison waves him down with a smile, afraid he'll choke on his swiftly digested food. "She got private invitation passes from her friend that works in the fashion industry. Hanna Marin. I'm not sure if you remember her or not."**

**Emily's squinted eyes watches Jason take a sip of water as she chews on her inner cheek, waiting for his response. **

"**Hanna Marin….I do remember the name." he sets down his glass on the table, turning his face to Alison. "Blonde, right? Kinda looks like you but not?"**

"**I guess." Alison chuckles with an unsure head nod before she moves her sights to Emily for her reaction to the comparison.**

"**Yeah…yeah, she was a friend's of Aria. Aria Montgomery. I remember her."**

"**Well, she's Emily's best friend. Her and Aria, actually."**

"**Really?"**

**Emily lifts her brows with her lips upturned tightly when the attention is put on her.**

"**Well, shit. Look at that. Fashion week in New York." Jason says, impressed. He cuts into another piece of his steak. "What a coincidence that she's in fashion like you and can give you that kind of connect. Damn, maybe Hanna can hook me up with tickets to the next Eagles home game." he laughs, glancing up briefly at Emily, before he goes back into his food. "Tell her I'll work for free."**

**Alison giggles a bit, looking at Emily again.**

"**I doubt it." Emily says dryly, blinking several times. "She's not into sports. At all. You'd have better luck trying to win them by calling the radio." she states with a tiny pitch of humor, laced more with mockery.**

"**Yeah, maybe." Jason continues to laughs as he scoops another spoonful, either not catching onto to Emily's disdain or just ignoring it. Alison keeps her eyes on Emily, however, with her smile fading.**

Emily's fake enthusiasm, her forced laughter, how her eyes would either be down at her plate or settling on Jason, Alison noticed. Even when Alison would talk about her and smile, Emily would give her a tight smile in response. Alison noticed.

She knows this won't make a complete 180 in one day, not even her and Jason will be perfectly fine now. It will take time, consistency, and work but Alison's optimistic that it could work. That she could have a small family. So much darkness she's been under, when a little ray of light presents itself, she's going to hold onto it with all of her might like it's the last thing she has.

Alison peeps over at her phone seeing her lock screen flash, showing an incoming text from Miranda, asking for a ride. Time was getting closer for her to head to work and now all she has to do is grab her things and walk out the door.

Just as Alison stood in the entryway of her apartment, grabbing her purse and putting on her shoes, Jason comes out of the bathroom. They both say their good mornings to each other before Jason makes his way to the kitchen to finish some of the leftovers from last night. With everything ready to go, Alison ponders to herself for a moment before she walks towards the kitchen.

"So, Miranda, Amy, and I are going to this barbeque hosted by one of our coworkers later today. Em and Amy's boyfriend, Jack, might come if they can get off work." Alison leans against the wall with her head tilted at Jason as he grabs a plate and starts collecting his food. "You should join us."

"I don't know about all that, Ali…" Jason grimaces without looking up at her. Emily and her defensive guards are one thing but Miranda and Amy are a totally different chapter. Unlike Emily, whose anti-Jason just through word of mouth, Alison's friends were around when he had his hateful moments. Especially during Alison's breakdown where he had to be dragged to the hospital just to see her. And even when he was there, it was a fight. He doesn't want to hash out another round of fighting people because of his past.

"All you do is go to your program and sit in here. It's going to be a nice day today. You should enjoy it." Alison tries to coax him into changing up his routine. Jason turns his head and looks at her with silence and an uncertain face. Alison sighs followed by a small shrug afterwards.

"At least think about it? Text me with that little, new phone of yours, hm?" Alison nods her head towards the living room where Jason's backpack sat, propped up against the wall before giving her goodbyes and walking out for work.

Jason waits to hear the sound of the door open and close before he takes his plate and places it in the microwave. The whirling of the vents add on to the tapping of his fingers against the countertop as he thinks in silence what his next move should be.

…..

"Have you ever been to one of these things?"

Emily looks over her shoulder and sees Jack cleaning out a glass cup as she wipes down the bar countertop.

"Huh?"

"This barbeque. Have you ever went to one of them?"

"Oh. Uhm no. This is a first." Emily takes her washcloth and folds it, putting it to the side for later. She then turns around with her back against the bar and arms crossed. "All I know is that its Alison's coworker and people from their little job circle that they know. We're pretty much going as outsiders."

"As long as there is free beer and food, I'm in." Jack says simply as he stacks the clean glass on the shelf under the counter before he grabs another dirty one and begins cleaning it. "You'd think that being a bartender, I'd be sick of beer. But I'm not! I fucking love it. Only thing that sucks is that you can't drink on the job so it always leave me a little thirsty. But outside these walls? _Pfshh._ I'm a drunk."

Jack chuckles to himself just as he sees a customer walking by, catching only his last few sentences before she gave him a peculiar look.

"Just kidding!" Jack corrects himself with a tease as he points to her. "I _always_ drink responsibly. Never drink and drive. Safety first."

Emily forgets to laugh at the exchange as her mind was preoccupied with something else.

"You know that Alison's brother might show up…" she casually slips it in as she looks at him, leaning in closer so only they can hear.

Jason's face falls from joking to baffled as he shakes his head, bending down to place this glass under the counter as well. "Woah, back up. Alison has a brother?"

"Yeah."

"Older or younger?"

"Older."

"…Older than me?"

"Yeah. He should be like 27 or something." Emily shrugs, her eyes glancing to her sides to see if anybody was going to visit the bar anytime soon.

"Damn." With nothing else to do and nobody to serve, Jack stretches out his arms before he leans against the bar with his hands folded, looking up at Emily. "How come I've never heard of him before?"

Emily takes a moment to think about her choice of words before she spoke again. "He's just been away so he's never came up in conversations, I guess. But he might come and you'll get to meet him."

"Is he cool? Would I like him?"

Out of all the things she could say, Emily continues to play everything off. She could give Jack the 411 about Jason and who he is but she decides to be neutral for right now. Just so Jack can form his own opinion on him. For as long as she's know him, Jack has proved himself to be a very loyal person so if she says anything negative on Jason's behalf, a switch will be flipped and his allegiance will be incredibly obvious. Plus, Alison would be pissed if Jack came to the function with a chip on his shoulder towards Jason. At that point, all the fingers would point to Emily as to who told him what. The last thing she wants to do is make Alison feel like she purposely manipulating situations.

"Yeah, maybe."

….

Alison's black and white tennis shoes crunches on top of the soft and well-manicured, green grass of Penn Park, the location of the barbeque party. The host, Traci, had reserved a section of the public park that allowed them to have space for their party and games she had planned. Although as she approached the reserved area, she felt as if she was lost or crashing the gathering of someone else's because the small get together looked like a full blown party. She finds Amy and Miranda through of shout of her name and makes her way towards one of the many portable tables that were set up.

"Did I hear the invite information wrong?" Alison walks up on Miranda lounging in a chair while Amy sat on top of the table with rolled up shirt in her hand. "This is like a few streets short of a block party."

"This, my friend, is what twitter does. It grew into this untamable beast." Amy comments as she looks out into the crowd briefly before focusing her attention to the scissors in one hand and the fabric in the other.

"So anyone and everyone who heard of this just decided to roll on by?"

"Well, not exactly." Miranda hops up and throws a hand over Alison's shoulder, pointing her to the unfamiliar party people. "See, that guy in the red shorts? He's a friend of Howard. And that guy with the fucked up haircut? That's Jerry's friend who is dating Nicole."

"And that girl there with the pink shorts is Marissa's cousin aka Daniel's new girlfriend. The one I told you got jumped by Daniel's ex a few weeks ago by the mall." Amy pitches in, nodding her head to the left towards this short, petite girl for Alison's eyes to follow.

"And him?" Miranda takes Alison in another direction that concentrates on a tall, fit guy who wore a green, striped tank and Hawaiian shorts as he laughed within a group "That's Marcel's boyfriend, Tommy. The only person who thinks nobody knows is Marcel but I'm sure the whole city knows they're together."

Feeling like she was a new person coming into a whole different circle, Alison tries to take in everyone and their past and affiliations when another guy comes into her vision, dunking his hand in a cooler for some kind of beverage.

"Wait, is that Philip?" Alison questions almost surprised as she turns to Miranda.

Amy nods without even looking up as Miranda shakes her head with disgusted eye roll. "He came with Evelyn, which is no surprise to anyone. I swear she has this fantasy idea that she thinks she's intimidating me or making me jealous because she's with him but she keeps forgetting that I was the one that dumped his dusty ass."

"So, in short, everyone here is a either a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, ex, and/or cousin." Amy glances up at Alison with a smile and a shrug. "Still a private party. Just big and in public."

All she could do is blink at the information overload. So many people yet so connected somehow whether it's through a person or instance. Alison shakes her head, pleased with the very idea of her lack of love life at this moment. Nothing is worse than to have a past that you would like to forget right across from you at social function. Especially when you're with someone else. She glances down to see the rolled up, blue shirt still in her grasp from when Traci gave her upon coming.

"What's with the clothes?" Alison tosses her hand up for Miranda and Amy to see before they went back to their project prior to Alison arriving.

"Traci got us shirts for us to wear for teams later on but it makes us look like SpongeBob. No shape, whatsoever. So…." Amy puts her scissors to the side and holds up her blue shirt that she cut up in a very girly fashion: a fringe crop tank. "We're fixing that right now with our own designs."

Alison pouts, fascinated with their idea. Leave it to the fairly oddsisters to creatively turn things to advantage them. "_Smart._ Do mines."

"Pull up a chair sista." Miranda bends to the side and slides a white, plastic chair that was idly by their table and places it closer to her for Alison to join them. As she sits down and takes a closer look at Amy's top, Miranda's eyes peep past Alison, something capturing her attention.

"_Oooh_. Hunk at 4:30." Miranda says in a hushed tone to make both girls look up at her and follow her gaze. "Who is that and do I know him?"

The girls spot a tall, blond in grey sweats holding a black shirt in one hand and focusing on his phone in the other. Just looking at his height, build, and luscious long hair with a full beard to accommodate, Miranda was almost drooling. Alison bows her head back to the table.

"…That's Jason."

"Jason who?" Miranda asks, still staring at him, not putting two and together.

Alison breathes in deeply before exhaling. "Jason DiLaurentis."

Just as expected, both girls' necks snap in Alison's direction in utter disbelief; foreheads wrinkled, brows wild with their mouths basically sweeping the ground. _From lusting to defensive within 1.3 seconds, must be a new record from them_, Alison thinks to herself.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Amy's disgusted face matches her tone that has raised to a much louder volume than she just had. Before the girls can break out from the table and jump him in broad daylight, Alison defuses the bomb as swiftly as it's created.

"Guys, please don't." Alison begs. "He's changed."

"How do you know he's changed?" Amy pushes back, peering back up at Jason who looked like he was now on a phone call.

"He's been staying at my place for a while now. The same night we all got drunk at Em's apartment, he showed up at mines as soon as I got home. Emily has been giving him hell from Satan himself and it's already causing problems between us three. That last thing I need is for my friends to add onto that and stress me out even more. Jason and I…we're not at great odds anymore. I'm giving him a chance for redemption and he hasn't let me down yet. I _need _you guys to support me in this." she looks in-between both Amy and Miranda with her pleads written all over her soft and genuine face. A face you couldn't be mad or argue at even if you tried.

"_Please._"

The girls stare at Alison before they look at each other, visibly lowering their prior skyscraper defenses. "…Well," Amy sighs. "If he's been staying with you for this long and neither of you guys have attempted to poison each other…must be a big turn around."

"It is. Last night we had a dinner. And when I mean by we, I mean _he _cooked a dinner." Alison glimpses back at her brother with a pleased yet gentle smile. "That was the first time Jason and I have laughed together in years. I see it in his eyes. He's trying to become someone different."

"He cooks and you don't invite me?" Amy placed her hand on her chest in an appalled shock. "Someone who is always down for a home-cooked meal?"

"What color did he get?" Miranda's eyes narrow as she tries to see the shirt in his other hand. However, with his standing position, he was gradually turning his back on them, limiting her sights.

"Black." Alison answers.

Miranda grabs a hold of her black crop top with the ends tied in the front. She shakes it with a devious smile. "Looks like we're on the same team."

"You should talk to him." Alison nudges her with her shoulder. "He doesn't know anyone here. I don't want him to feel like an outcast – like he doesn't belong and way out of his element, you know?"

"_Ay, ay, Captain_." Miranda salutes before she jumps out of her seat and makes her way towards him. Both Alison and Amy watch Jason end his phone call and begin interacting with Miranda. At first glance, he seems guarded seeing Miranda's dominant presence but with the movement of her lips and a point at the black shirt given to him, it seems as if she was actually trying to start a conversation rather than fight. A wave of relief washes through Alison at this visual.

"You know….the gruff? It really works for him. Giving me very biblical…" Amy purses out her lips as she takes notice of Jason's new look compared to the short hair and baby smooth face he sported before. "Very Jesus-y."

"Alright, you need something to do." Alison tosses her blue shirt at Amy, landing on the top of her head and covering her face. "Let's start cutting up my shirt."

….

About a half an hour later, Emily and Jack finally arrive on the scene and are surprised to see the amount of people that showed up to this "small, friendly barbeque". What beat that surprise was noticing the girls' attire, especially Alison to Emily. She sees her in the blue shirt turned tank top with a shredded back and jean shorts with her tennis shoes. She couldn't stop her face from glowing up in a smile upon spotting Alison. And with the carefree, wide smile Alison gave Emily back, the feeling appeared to be mutual.

"You made it!" Alison throws her arms out to wrap around Emily's waist, squishing her face against her chest. Emily's smiles stays plastered on her face as she gives her a kiss on the forehead. Amy embraces Jack with a kiss as well holding two beer cans with a black shirt around his neck before Miranda and Jason approach them.

Emily's seemingly never ending smile fades by the corners when she sees the brother. She clears her throat and nods her head in his direction to Jack.

"Jack, this is Alison's brother, Jason. Jason, this is my friend, Jack."

"_Look at fuckin' Thor here, ah_! Where your hammer, man?" Jack gives a beer to Amy, stretches out his hand and warmly grins to greet Jason with a firm handshake. Jason offers back a small smile to the stranger riddled with tattoos. It surprised him to hear Emily refer to him as a friend. He didn't think she would associate herself with the likes of this "Jack".

"Looks like the girls got their hands on you." Jack waves his hand up and down at Jason's apparel. Just how the girls took care of themselves with their looks, Miranda pushed Jason to join them as they took his black shirt and turned it into a low cut, racerback tank top. Through the large armholes, his bare sides and abdomen were visible for all to see. Jason nods with a slight chuckle.

"Uh, yeah. They decided it was time for a makeover, I guess. Gotta fit in with the group."

Everyone wore faint, friendly smiles as they watched the two men interact but Emily subtly raised a brow at Jason's words, unnoticed by everyone else.

"Fitting in, indeed. Beard is righteous, by the way. I'm want to grow out my shit." Jack massages the lower half of his face, stroking his mouth and chin where he was clean shaven and baby-faced. "Maybe get a goatee or something."

Amy jerks her head back with a scrunched up look. Her hands reaches for him and join his while they both began rubbing his face. "You don't need beard."

"I'm a man. I can't assert my manliness with the face of a 14 year old boy."

"Your face is literally the only thing on you that looks like a 14 year old boy."

"_Ooookay_…"

"_Wow. I didn't need to hear that..."_

"_That was unnecessary..."_

"_Why..."_

Everyone excluding Jason winces through their uncomfortable groans as Jack removes her hands off him. Amy turns to look at the disapproving expressions.

"What? What happened?"

"_Anyways_," Jack continues on, putting his focus back on Jason. "A brother of Alison is a brother of mines. Welcome."

"Thanks. This is, uh–" Jason nods while looking at everyone as he places his hands on his hips. "A tight system we got here, it looks like."

"Yeah, this girl right here? _Family_." Jack leans over and gently taps under Alison's chin, causing her to beam with high cheeks. "Going to be my sister-in-law one day."

Emily can't help but to loosen up and smile at that. It makes her warm inside to hear and see Jack interacting with Alison the way he does. He might not have known her for a long time but he treats her as if he did. Alison obviously enjoys his presence as well so it was a win-win all around.

"Quick question, though." Jack suddenly sizes up Jason with a semi-stern look. Everyone's faces screeching to a halt, stuck in anticipation instantly by the tone of his voice and it didn't go unnoticed by Jason. It was four against one and he knew it would be too good to be true that not one of them spilled his dirty deeds to Jack at one point before meeting him. Jason stares back at Jack waiting for whatever he has to say.

"…Steelers or Eagles?"

Jason's shoulders relaxes and rebounds to answer without looking like he was nervous just a few seconds prior. "What the fuck is a _steeler_?"

"This dude!" Jack laughs in approval of his choice of a football team as he extends the cold beer he was holding towards him. Like a back and forth game of anxiousness, the girls hesitate with a dead silent grimace as their eyes fall on the beer and then back up at Jason for his reaction.

"Nah man, I'm good." he shakes his head politely.

"He doesn't drink…" Alison cuts in a casually as she could, lowering her voice as she glances up at Jack. "Sorry, I should have told you."

Jack presses his lips together in embarrassment but tries to make things less awkward then how it currently is. "Well, good for you, bro. It's a nasty habit anyways."

"How about we give it to Emily here." Amy pulls the beer from Jack and hands it over to Emily instead. "I can't get lit without my drinking buddy." She winks with a giddy smile.

Emily accepts it while Jack starts to get antsy with the different color shirt he had compared to the others.

"Hey, trade with me. You take the black one."

"No way. How am I going to be on a different team from my girl?"

"How am I going to be on a different team from _my _girl?" Jack questions back but Emily refuses to budge and give him her blue shirt. He rolls his eyes in frustration before he looks out into the distance of people socializing, drinking, and cooking food on the barbeque with the music playing loud.

"Looks like I gotta get one of these fuckers to switch with me." He excuses himself from the group to find a submissive prey while Amy watches.

"I mean, we all can't wear blue. Look at us…we look like the fucking Crips. With our luck, we'll get shot in a drive-by on our way back to our cars."

"I guess that makes Jason and I unique." Miranda states proudly as she stands by Jason in their black uniforms. "Thor and Black Widow."

"_Black Widow_…?" Alison asks with a confused yet intrigued expression, the ends of her lips in a tiny curve.

"Yeah. Because we're _badasses_. And _badasses_ don't hang with _losers_. Come on," Miranda grabs onto Jason's arm. "Let's introduce you to some people, hm?"

With no push back or words for that matter from Jason, Miranda whisks him away from the other girls and begins the integrating process on behalf of Alison's wishes to make him feel comfortable. And that she was glad for. She wouldn't be able to fully enjoy herself if Jason was sitting on the sidelines, looking as if he walked into the wrong location by accident and was waiting for his ride to pick him up.

Alison turns to Emily, taking her blue shirt out of her grasp. "Let's fix up this raggedy ass shirt and turn it into a muscle tank. I think you'd look cute in that."

"You like anything that shows off my arms." Emily responds back, looking down at Alison with a smirk of a smile.

"That's because I like your arms." Alison coyly leans into Emily, grabbing her girlfriend's arm and tossing it over her shoulder while they interlocked fingers.

…

The anticipated barbeque party brought in about 60 people, give or take; 40 more than Alison was expecting. First come, first serve got dibs on the colored shirts as the host, Traci, planned them for later. People came in bringing goods such as paper plates/cups, alcohol, assorted chips, alcohol, snacks and fruits, alcohol, and everything else that could be consumed at a function. People were sent running back to stores for more meat and bread, seeing that the number of people expected were exceeded, but once everyone came in, the feel good bash started under the hot spring Philadelphia weather.

About an hour in, people were separated and doing their own things in park: a team of guys were playing football while some girls watched, talked, took pictures and snapchats, another group were tossing Frisbees, some catered around preparing the food along with a guy who claimed to be Emerald's son and could "throw down the best burger you've ever tasted" while the rest sat in multiple circles talking to each other. Jason and Jack exerted their energy playing a pick-up game of football as the girls sat at a table with a few other co-workers from Lush and gossiped away. Eating chips, getting free dirt on people she doesn't know and secrets she ultimately doesn't care about, Emily sits on one of the chairs at a table while Alison sat on her lap, fully tuned in. Emily's fingers caresses Alison's warm skin with her hand up the back of her shirt away from most eyes that could probably see. She loved touching Alison whenever she could and Alison loved feeling her, never complaining.

Then the games began.

Traci and a few others that helped her with this party came up with an idea that coordinated with the shirts. _How fun would it be if we played a game of kickball_, one could assume they asked each other. And from there, it was set – blue shirts on one team, black shirts on another. Whoever played defense has a total of nine people on the field – the pitcher, the catcher, three players to cover the bases, three outfielders, and one shortstop that stands between third and home base for those who try to punt the ball. The few remaining players left over were sidelined as substitutions while the offense stood in a line as to who would be up to kick. Losing a coin flip, the blue team were on defense waiting to out the black team.

First team to 12 homeruns wins.

Wearing the muscle top Alison wanted her in, Emily sports her tank and black shorts with her black and white flannel tied around her hips. Her and Alison stand in two different out fielding spots, about a yard between each other as they watch kick after kick. Nobody has had the luck of hitting a long ranger until an unfamiliar guy comes up to base. The ball is rolled to him and with a powerful thrust of his foot, the red ball flies up and out into the sky, alerting both girl's attention as it heads their way.

"I GOT IT!" Alison yells as she lines herself up the ball soaring towards her like a fiery comet. Descending down at a rapid speed with players from the black team running past bases, Alison outstretches her arms to catch the ball when it shoots right through her hands and bounces on the grass.

"_ALISON!_" Various blue players scream at her botched catch as she quickly catches it from the rebound and tosses it to another fielder to potentially out someone.

"THE SUN WAS IN MY EYES!" Alison shouts back at her disappointed teammates as she shields her eyes with her hand. Emily walks up to her with small laughter and pats her head as if she was a small puppy.

"You'll get it next time."

"The sun was in my eye!"

"I know, I know."

….

Second and third base are loaded and with the black team still on offense, it's now Jason's turn. His team claps and cheers him on to take everyone home as the defense is now in ready positions. This is his first time at the base and nobody knows the depth of his athleticism other than a few runs of football. The pitcher rolls to him and Jason launches the ball with a dominant kick that ends up curving to the left instead of going straight ahead. Emily and Alison split into different directions where Alison sees an opportunity to redeem herself and get her brother out at the same time. She jogs farther back but miscalculates her steps and ends up too far when she tries to catch it on the run. The ball hits the ground when screams were heard yet again.

"ALISON! THROW IT TO ME!" Emily screams for her attention as she impatiently waits by third base. Once the ball is in her grasp, Alison chucks the ball with all her might and energy to her who catches it and hurls it at the third baser that takes Jason out before he was able to make it all the way. The blue team cheers the victory out as it's now time to switch sides. Emily waits for Alison to catch up with her when she gives her a high five.

"Team work makes the dream work." Emily says through her labored breathing.

"What's the score?" Alison asks as she wipes her glistening forehead with her forearm.

Emily shrugs and turns to notice a team member walking a little ways in front of them. "Hey!" she calls out, getting him to turn around. "What's the score?"

"5-0!"

Emily groans. With her competitive drive at full speed now, all she could think about is some kind of game plan that she can hatch with the team before they kick.

"We have a long ways ahead of us. Hopefully you're better at kicking than catching."

"Stop!" Alison gasps, pushing Emily to the side as she laughs with her hands surrendering.

"I'm kidding!"

…..

With several rounds of blue and black players kicking, running, and being struck out, a plan was formed by Emily, Jack, and another girl to have the stronger kickers be every other person instead of having a random lineup with people of all strengths at different times. With this plan and a hour passing by, they were able to turn this foreseen blowout to a very tight game of 10-9 with the blue team in the lead and on offense.

Alison steps up to the base to kick when a shout is heard from behind her.

"Don't be intimidating because your brother is at second base, Ali!" a random male teammate wearing sunglasses and a drink in hand exclaims at her.

Alison hisses with a roll of her eyes as she stretches out her right leg. "I'm not intimidated by him. He just better make sure I don't pass him, that's all I have to say,"

"_OOOOOOOH_!" The sideline erupts with instigating howls, even hearing a few coming out from the black team's pitcher and catcher who caught the jab as well.

"You heard that Jason?!" the pitcher turns around and covers his mouth with a hand to create a megaphone to project his voice.

"_What?!_" Jason calls back, oblivious to what everyone was smiling about.

"Alison said you better kiss her ass because you ain't getting her out!"

"Or Emily!" the teammate wearing sunglasses yells out with a mischievous laugh.

Alison's mouth drops and spins to face her team sitting on the sideline bench. "I didn't say that!"

"Oh okay!" Jason nods his head, tucking his hair behind his ears as he gets into a ready stance with his hands on his knees. "We'll see about that!"

Everyone is now giddy and excited by this created sibling rivalry with a player at second base, needing a homerun from Alison's kick. The ball is rolled and Alison boots it straight down, taking off running in that same instance with everyone cheering her on. A guy standing in the fields goes to catch it when the bounces off his chest, causing him to trip and fall trying to seize it.

"KEEP GOING, ALI! DON'T STOP!" Emily's chanting blends along with the rest of the team as they yell at her to keep running past first base as the other blue player reaches third. She sprints by the first base and heads towards second when someone tosses the ball to Jason to stop her dead in her tracks.

Alison slides to a halt halfway to second base and staggers in the other direction to try to make it safely back to first base. Jason takes off like an Olympic runner, flexes his arm back, and heaves the ball right at Alison's heel before she had the chance to claim security. Everyone's reaction merges into mixture of happiness from the homerun that was made and groans with laughter when she throws her arms in defeat, knowing she caused her team a second out.

11-9.

Without her being aware, Jason creeps up behind her, wraps his arms around her waist, and picks her up, gaining out a surprised squeal from her.

"So, what were you saying?"

"I didn't say anything! They lied on me!"

"Uh huh. Sure they did." Jason walks his sister all the way back to the sidelines where the rest of her team sat. "Let's put you back to where you belong."

"You gotta get Emily next!" a stranger yells.

Jason runs a hand through his hair, glancing over at Emily who stood at the home base. "Don't worry. I got her."

"The fuck you do." Emily scoffs as she re-ties the flannel around her hips.

"_OOOOOOOOH!_"

"It's getting a little tight in here! _It's getting tight_!"

The crowd starts getting rowdy once more as Jason jogs back to his base and waits for the pitcher to roll out his pitch. When Emily kicks the ball far left and begins sprinting, making it past first base and stops at second. Alison, Amy, and Jack cheer for her especially loud as she pants, putting her hand on her hips.

"You think you're going all the way home?" Jason asks innocently with hints of taunting as he stands behind her.

"I don't have to think." Emily exhales out, not even turning around. "I know I'm making a full run."

"You have to get past me first."

"_Alright_."

"_Alright_."

"Don't forget I was the one who got you out."

Jason chuckles to himself with a head nod. "_Alright_."

Coming up to kick, Jack blows a kiss in Emily's direction. "This is for the winning homerun, _babay_!"

Everyone is on their feet now like the last two minutes of a basketball game. A football game. Soccer or baseball. Either you're hoping your favorite team pulls off the extra points they need to win or your team makes sure they put on intense defense to prevent any points being scored by the opposing opponents.

The pitcher rolls and Jack drives his foot into the ball, launching it past the bases and into the field where people scram to catch it for the third out. Not being caught, the ball was tossed around to person to person when Jason yells for it as Emily is touching third base, eyes set for that promised homerun. Alison screams, jumping up and down when the ball lands in Jason's hands.

He turns, Emily and him locking eyes when he takes a running start and chucks the ball at the base in hopes of hitting her with the right timing. Speeding through the air like a bullet in her direction, Emily takes a risk of faith and leaps into the air with her arms fully stretched out in almost a diving position as the ball flies underneath her. Coming down, she tucks in her head into a safety roll over her right shoulder to disperse the impact, rolling right onto the home plate before the catcher waiting for her could tag her out. The sidelines explode with everyone screaming in victory. Alison runs out towards Emily sitting up with both fists in the air and jumps on top of her like a one person dog pile. Everyone else decides to mound on her as well with cheers galore for such an amazing play.

"Tell me someone got that on camera! Tell me someone got that on fucking camera! Send me that shit!" Jack could be heard yelling in the background.

When the dusts settles and her teammates climb off her, she wheezes to catch her breath as Alison remains still there. She squeezes Emily's red cheeks and plants a fat victory kiss on her lips before pulling back with a huge smile.

"My baby!"

Jason walks up to the couple, hand extended towards Emily. She looks at it for a moment before she grabbed his hand and stood on her feet.

"That was nice, I won't even lie." he smiled at her. "Thoroughly impressed."

Feeling ultra-good right now, Emily couldn't upkeep her hard face and softened into an appreciative smile back to him. "Good game."

….

After the numbers were finalized and the sun was starting into set a fiery red and orange dance across the Philadelphia skies, everyone joined themselves with food, drinking, dancing, and laughter to bring this party to a slowed yet soon ending. Grooving from the likes of Maroon 5 to Migos, the gang plus Jason have their own private jam session as they danced together with no care. As time passed, Emily and Alison move off to the side to do their own thing with the vocals of Ne-Yo's "Because of You" flooding the air.

"And I know this much is true! Baby, _yoooou_ have become my addiction!" Emily sings along with the song as she circles around Alison holding a beer can, sliding her hand against her lower back down to her hips when she stands behind her.

"I'm so strung out on you, I can barely move - but I like it. _And it's all because of you_." Emily sways with Alison in rhythm, body to body. It wasn't long before Alison turns around to face Emily and puts an arm around her neck as Emily holds onto her waist.

"You look so sexy." Emily mumbles closely.

"Are you saying that because you're buzzed?" she smiles back, knowing that they both have been drinking and this is typically when Emily lays her moves and words on thick.

"I think I'm a little past buzzed. Plus, I was already thinking it from the moment I saw you." Emily grins with her eyes closed, leaning in to whisper into Alison's ear. "The buzz just makes me really appreciate how sexy you are."

They were in sweet spot – relaxed to the point of confidence but not where one would start acting out of character. Alison wanted to stay in that sweet spot and with a couple drinks, that's how she wanted to carry on into the evening.

"You know…we never got the chance to finish our night…" Alison reminds Emily in a lower, more honeyed tone as they rocked side to side.

"What night, baby?"

"The night where we interrupted. The night where you were going to _devour me_."

Emily chuckles, mentally being brought back to that night where she was in a similar mindset as to where she was soon to be going now. "You remember that?"

"Of course I do." Alison giggles as she rests her head on Emily's shoulders. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be drinking when we have to drive back."

"Well…Jason can drive. He hasn't been drinking." Emily offers a solution to their not-so-smart thinking ahead. "I got an idea. We have Jason to drive us….back to the apartment…"

"Uh huh…"

"Then we walk back to _my _apartment. Then….we see what happens from there." Emily's lips rise in a naughty smirk before she licked her lips. "He can be with Miranda so he won't be alone."

"_Nonono_." Alison lifts up with head with a firm head shake. "Miranda and Jason alone? I'm not going to have my best friend and my brother alone in my apartment. Not too long ago they were practically grinding to Rihanna. I don't think so."

"Okay, okay. Well….Miranda could just go home." Emily reoffers with her lips poked out in a pout. "She can go ahead and take Jason with her. That way…..we have _your _apartment to ourselves to do whatever we want to do."

Alison can't help but smile with suspicion as she looks at the slyness written and plastered all over Emily's face. "Are you trying to get us all laid? You and I, Amy and Jack going back to their place, and now Jason and Dani going back to hers?"

Emily scoffs at the accusation as she pulls away from Alison, spinning her around with their interlocked hand while she takes a sip of her beer. "I doubt Miranda would sleep with him this quickly." she testifies as she brings Alison back pressed into her body. "_Unless_….they have a past I know nothing about."

"Nope. No flirtatious past."

"See? Then we're fine. You're fine…I'm fine…_You're fine…_"Emily doesn't hide her blatant staring with her low eyes at Alison's lips while she bites on her own._ "Hmmm…yes, you are."_

Alison leans into Emily and caught her with a kiss they both wanted at that exact moment. Not knowing if it was the alcohol or just the intimacy, the taste of Emily's tongue made her insides melt into her one-tracked mind. Her fingers caress the back of Emily's neck as they enjoyed their own little moment, not caring who was around or who was watching. The melody of the music playing creates a small bubble for them as it describes the "addicting" feeling they have for each other. A few more seconds pass by before Alison pulls away with a slight whimper.

"_God_….your apartment, my apartment, I don't care." she whines. "Let's go now."

Emily starts laughing, making Alison laugh as well. Although funny, Emily knew if Alison stated that she wanted to leave once again, being completely serious, she would hail down a taxi or even take a bus back home if she had to and pick up the cars tomorrow.

Sprung for sex? Sprung for Alison? The blend of both elements would make her do crazy things.

…

Two days later after the fun at the barbeque, Alison and Amy are sitting at the bar of the Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse, waiting for Emily and Jack to clock out so they can start their double date they've planned. Dave &amp; Buster's, a restaurant with arcade and entertainment, right off the Delaware River, only 20 minutes away. Everyone was dressed nicely yet comfortable like Alison's burgundy pants with black leather side panels and her black wrap style top that accentuated her cleavage. Or Emily's white with red stripped button up shirt halfway tucked into her own leather pants – for example.

Time was dwindling down and at this point, all Emily and Jack had to do is wait for their replacements so they could end their shift.

"Now, I, personally, never have been to a Dave &amp; Buster's so this is a total new experience for me." Jack tells the girls as he collects his tips for the night and counts it underneath the bar counter.

"It's actually really fun." Amy explains as she and Alison both start climbing out of their seats and adjust their clothing. "It's like Chuck E. Cheese but for adults."

"Well I hope they don't break into my pockets because I'm trying t-"

As Alison spoke a server carrying a platter of salads accidently bumps into her with the lack of space between people, spilling a small, round container of dressing onto her shirt.

"Shit! I'm so, so sorry!" the waiter apologizes profusely as all eyes turned onto Alison. She presses her lips together and grabs a napkin off the bar counter and tries to wipe off the Ranch dressing with a tight smile.

"It's okay, it's okay."

"Way to go, nerd." Jack calls out from behind the bar as Amy tended to help Alison by wetting a napkin with some water and rubbing away the creamy, white substance. Although they were able to get it off, a light stain remained on the top and there was no way Alison was going anywhere like that.

"We're going to have to make a pit stop back at my place so I can switch this." Alison pats herself down and reaches into her purse, pulling out her car keys.

"You can barely see it, though." Jack points out, however, Alison wasn't having it.

"Yeah but I can and I can smell it. I have to change."

….

The gang of four all hop in Alison's car and head back to her apartment. She insisted everyone to say in the car while she quickly changed but Emily offered to help her pick out the next shirt.

"If I'm not there, you'll spend twenty minutes deciding what to wear and we'll never leave." Emily says as she hops out the passenger side.

"And I have to use the bathroom." Amy also chimes in, opening the backseat doors and crawling out.

"Why didn't you go when we were at the Rittenhouse?" Jack questions.

"I do _not _do public bathrooms. Especially bathrooms that belong to sport bars."

"Then I guess we're _all_ coming up. Come on." Alison rolls her eyes and spins around to click her heels on the sidewalk towards her apartment's front doors. Waiting to hear the car door close, she locks her vehicle and leads everyone upstairs. When she goes to pull on the entrance door, a guy pushes it at the same time, creating a small blunder of who walks first. He holds it open and steps to the side, allowing everyone to come inside.

"Thank you." Alison nods at the guy.

"No problem." he smiles back with his striking green eyes that she immediately got locked into. They go in their separate ways with him leaving and she sticks to her that she's never seen a pair of eyes so green.

_I could use that color… _Alison mentally tells herself, thinking about her project she still has to do for her class.

"Do you, by chance, have any styling gel that doesn't have alcohol in it?" Jack smooths his hair back gently with his hands. "It kills my hair."

Alison looks over her shoulder. "I'm guessing this is everyone's chance to freshen up, huh?"

"I just have to make sure I'm looking on point! A little redo of the do won't hurt anyone."

"I have a few things you can use."

"We're about to be how siblings are when there is one mirror and everyone has to use it. Just elbowing your way through everyone." Amy grins at just the idea of all of them in Alison's bathroom, trying to fix their hair and makeup as they push each other out the way.

"Well, hopefully Em doesn't hog up the mirror." Alison quickly says with her words purposely said in a low mumble so Emily wouldn't hear but she heard it nice and clear walking right beside her.

"What? I don't hog up mirrors." Emily defends herself with an appalled gasp.

"Yeah, you do." Alison grimaces as she slides her hand into Emily's as if it was supposed to soften the blow "Just a bit. _Juuuust_ a little."

"And she always does this fluffing thing with her hair too and this thing with her lips." Jack goes into full-blown impersonation mode as he squints his eyes, fluffs out his imaginary mane full of hair and pouts as he's seen Emily do before.

"Yeah! Exactly!" Alison cracks up laughing as everyone finds humor in this example except Emily, of course. She watches Jack with a straight face and narrowed eyes as they finally approach Alison's door

"Wow, what is this? Roast Emily day?"

"Well, I like when you do that." Alison smiles up at her with a hopeless gaze as she places her apartment key in the lock. "It's _very _cute and even sexy sometimes."

Emily tries to maintain her straight face but the corners of her mouth ends up turning up which she has to hide behind a lip bite. "_Anyways…_I have ammo on all of you guys if you truly want this to turn into roasting session."

Alison unlocks her door and pushes through, feeling the cool breeze from the air conditioner and a light scent of perfume entering her nostrils. Her eyes fall on her bed where she sees a blonde girl draped on top of her sheets, trying on a bracelet.

"This is nice and it fits! _Ah_, I feel like the princess of England."

"You can have whatever you want, baby."

A couple moments later Jason appears from Alison's closet with a handful of merchandise and a small, open backpack on her bed.

"What the fuck…?" Emily projects her voice loud enough that the girl and Jason's heads snap to the door, completely frozen.

**"Jason?" Alison calls out in a mixture of confusion and automatic distaste as she stomps further into the studio, getting to the corner of the kitchen where he was able to see Jason rise up from the couch.**

"**You must be Jason's baby sister." the blonde jumps to her feet with a kind smile as she approached Alison. She flashes out her hand for a handshake, "I'm Cece. Cute place, by the way. **_**Very chic**_**."**

"Are you fucking serious?" Alison's voice starts off small as the words were lodged in her throat but grew within a second's time. "Are you _FUCKING SERIOUS?!_ What the hell is this?!"

Alison stomps her way inside the apartment with Jason and Cece stuck in their tracks. Amy and Jack's mouth were left open, stunned but not sure exactly what was going on. Emily was already on her way to boiling temperatures.

_I! FUCKING! KNEW IT!_

"The fuck are you doing in my home?! Didn't I fucking tell you not to bring any people into my fucking apartment?! And now you have this whore trying on my things, Jason?! Are you fucking serious?!" Alison slams her purse and keys on the floor. Emily, Jack, and Amy immediately jog right behind Alison as they still try to fully understand the situation presented in front of them.

"Bitch, you have some _fucking_ nerve, I-" Alison gets distracted mid-sentence by the sight of the contents inside Jason's bag.

"What the fuck is that, Jason?" Alison points at the backpack with her voice low, blinking several times as if she couldn't believe her vison.

"…Are you stealing from me? Are you seriously fucking stealing from me?"

Everyone's eyes dart up at Jason as the apartment gets quiet with only Alison's breathing being heard, slowly making her way from Cece to the other side of the bed where he stood.

_Holy shit_… Jack and Amy think in silence. Before she knew it, Amy starts rising up to Emily's level of frustration. While Jack doesn't know anyone, Amy knew of Jason's past and was very apprehensive about him until Alison lowered her defenses. Now here he is, proving everyone right of their doubts.

"Jason, tell me you're not stealing from me…"

"I'm not!"

Alison's hand cuts through the air and smacks Jason in the face, causing everyone to jump back from the loud crisp slap.

"How dare you lie to me in my face when I see my shit in your bag!" Alison yells at him as she grabs onto his shirt and pulls him into her.

"You put your hands on her and I swear to GOD, I'm going to kill you." Emily marches up behind Alison as she takes the hair-tie she wore around her wrist and began putting her hair up in a bun. "Try me, bitch. Please, try me. Oh my God. Please." Emily bounces from side to side with her hands now shaking.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you, you fucking snake!" Amy yells at Jason with her eyes locked on him as if he was a target when Jack pulls her aside and whispers to her.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

As Amy goes to give the 60 second rundown of everything she's know about Jason and Alison from first-hand experiences, Cece silently slinks herself off the bed and tries to slowly remove herself from this blistering situation when Amy stops her with a yank of her arm.

"Na uh, bitch. Where in the _fuck _do you think you're going, huh? Stealing things from Alison as if you owed this shit?" she cursed at her as she ripped off the bracelets and rings that she had on.

"What the hell were you going to do with this, huh?!" Alison's hands pry into the backpack in a heated rage and pulls out all kinds of things she owned that he was planning on taking. Including several, expensive fashion materials supplies.

"I need this for my class! This is what you do?!" she pushes him, making him hobble to the side with wide eyes. "I let you into my home and you steal from me?! _Your sister?!_"

"Oh my God, if Miranda was here right now, she would fucking eat you alive." Amy comments aloud as Emily has barely blinked with her eyes on Jason. Jack, now up to semi speed, only getting a _"he's an abusive drunk asshat" _from Amy. Only in the three days he's known Jason, he feels like he extended an olive branch to an enemy and that made him feel just as deceived as everyone else in the room.

"SAY SOMETHING, JASON!" Alison's shout mixes with tears as her breathing comes harsher.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Everyone turns to the door whereas Alison bows her head in exasperation. "Now we have the damn neighbors making complaints!"

Before anyone could move, Alison throws down everything onto the bed and stomps her way to her door in which she swings open to some teenage boy.

"Can I help you?" Alison asks in a much crueler tone than expected as she feels her vision starting to blur, creating doubles of the stranger.

"Yeah, I'm looking for J?"

"J? For what?"

The teenage boy stares back at Alison as if he didn't know what to say just by the tone of her response.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day." Alison rushes him as her hands now grip the doorknob tighter than before.

He takes a quick peer over his shoulder into the empty hallway before he turned back to Alison with his voice at a hush. "He said he got some red tags? Xanax, Wellbutrin, Zoloft…?"

Alison hurls door shut into the door frame, not caring that she just slammed the door in this boy's face. "You fucking bastard…you bitch! You're selling my medications out of my apartment?! Jason?!" Alison runs over to him in a fury as fast as she could move in her heels, making Jason jump out of the way while Emily uses her quick reflexes to grab and hold onto her.

"You have people coming to my apartment?! Selling my medication as drugs?!" Alison starts bucking like a wild bull that was caught as she tries to wrangle out of Emily's grasp. Emily knows Alison is furious and has every right to be but she's ultimately concerned about her hurting herself. She eventually lets go as Alison unknowingly claws at her hands for a release.

"I let you into my home for you to sell drugs?!" she screams at him as she began to throw fists in a haymaker sense. Jason attempts to dodge out of the way when Alison catches him right in the lower jaw with a powerful swing – rings and all. Out of reflex, Jason shoves Alison out of his face and forces her to stumble backwards right into the edge of the kitchen bar. She cries out in pain, holding onto the small of her back as she falls to the floor.

"Alison!" Amy springs to Alison's aid as Emily's eyes darkened black with her voice now two registers lower.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Emily runs up and socks Jason in the side of his face with a surprise strike, catching him off guard.

Jason defensively shields his face as Emily wails off on him, aiming for anywhere she could hit. Her aggression kicks past 100 as she sees hot red and wants nothing than to beat him within an inch of his life. She hears noises around her but everything turns to muffled echoes. She feels hands on her, trying to stop her but her strength was at the stage of Bruce Banner transforming into the Hulk and it seemed as if no one could detain her.

Jason tries to extend this hands to stop Emily and restrain her when Emily's knuckles smash into the tip of his nose. Skipping backwards with the immense, sharp stinging, Jason throws his arms around Emily's neck, putting her in a tight headlock. Randomly, Jason's head ducks forward as Jack swings right for the back of his head. Not only witnessing a man put hands on a girl but with Emily as that girl and some jerk off as the man, Jack jumped right into the fight, getting his licks in as well.

"Em! Emily!" Alison calls out for her as Amy helps her stand on her feet. With the loud scuffling of shoes and now three people fighting, her the stress level flies to the ceiling just when she sees Cece hopping in with a weak attempt of trying to "protect Jason" by tugging on Jack's shirt to get him off.

"_Get_…." Alison clutches her chest due to her heavy breathing. She turns to Amy. "Get that fucking….._slut_ out of my apartment!"

Amy doesn't hesitate another second before she goes to handle the random girl, strong arming her away from everyone. Alison wobbles as she watches a sight never in her entire life she thought she'd see.

"Jason, let her go! Let her go!"

Still in the restricting headlock, Emily holds onto the wrist around her neck with her right hand and tosses her free left hand around Jason's shoulder, grabbing onto his face. Taking a deep and quick breath, she pulls back as far as she can to jerk Jason's face backwards, making him lean back with now just one hand around her neck. Emily relentlessly punches against his side with one hard strike at his genitals and Jason lets go, groaning out in eye-watering pain. With her hand bloody from his nose that started to leak from an earlier punch, Emily tackles him to the ground, knocking over a stand Alison had nearby and causing them both to crash into Alison's glass coffee table.

Alison screams out in panic, rushing over to the brawling duo when Jack wraps his arms around her waist, stopping her from getting too close. At this point, Emily and Jason are so gone that if Alison gets anywhere near, there is a possibility that she'll get a fist hurled at her by accident.

Now with the advantage, Emily climbs on top of Jason and pounds him as his defenses were weakened. Blood streams down her forearm from the broken glass cutting her but she doesn't even notice as she lands combinations of left and right, creating a bloody mess of his face. The faint, distant yelling of Alison in the background seeps into her ears when she feels a strong hand grabbing her shoulder, yanking her backgrounds. Emily felt like she was in slow motion with her heart beating faster than normal. Her unblinked, wild eyes stare at Jason under her as her hands keep moving on her own. It was as if she wasn't controlling them anymore and she was on automatic. One set of hands turn into two and then three as the sounds around her start to clear up and clarify.

"EMILY, STOP! STOP!"

"EM! IT'S DONE! STOP!"

Emily is finally grabbed and snatched off of Jason by Jack, Amy, and Alison to end the beating. From having a double dinner date to a UFC match in her apartment, Alison is so overwhelmed that she felt like she couldn't breathe nor stand straight.

"Holy shit, man!" Jack grabs Emily's arm and inspects the blood rushing from it. In an attempt to help her, Jack directs Emily to walk to the bathroom with him but she resists moving.

"Dude, you're fucking bleeding! You need to clean this shit!" he urges her and before she can say anything, Jack is forcibly dragging her to the bathroom, hoping Alison has some kind of first aid kit somewhere.

Jason tries to sit up, not even realizing he's sitting in glass and completely disoriented with the lack of oxygen he feels traveling to his brain. His shirt had a tear in it and his beard was soaked dark red in all the blood that covered his face.

"Why are you fucking doing this to me?! I did nothing to you!" Alison cries with hot tears running her face as she stands in front of Jason who could barely keep his eyes open. "I let you in! Gave you food to eat, a running shower, place to sleep, everything! And you betrayed me like this, why?! I AM YOUR BABY SISTER! I AM ALL THAT YOU HAVE LEFT! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"

Alison tramps over to him, grabbing his wet face with her hands to force eye contact between them. "HOW COULD YOU LOOK ME IN THE FACE EVERYDAY AND DO THIS TO ME?! JASON, I LOVED YOU! EVEN WHEN YOU DIDN'T LOVE ME I LOVED YOU! WHEN PEOPLE TALKED SHIT ABOUT YOU, I DEFENDED YOU! BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SIBLINGS DO! THAT'S WHAT FAMILIES DO! ESPECIALLY WHEN WE'RE ALL THAT WE HAVE!"

She lets go of him with a push of her hand now masked in his blood and grips onto the front of his shirt, wide eyes fiery with rage that just wants to hit him. "WHY DO YOU LIKE SEEING ME BROKEN?!"

"I don't fucking have anything, Alison!" Jason defends himself in a loud yet garbled and slurred speech.

A sudden rumble comes from the bathroom, snapping everyone's attention to Emily trying to burst out when Jack picks her up and pulls her back like a riotous animal. All she heard was Jason shouting at Alison and she was triggered right back into killing mode. This spectacle frightened everyone because the Emily they all knew was abruptly replaced by this violent person who was beyond unrecognizable.

Getting her semi under control with his strength, Jack calms down Emily when Jason continues to speak.

"After dad kicked me out, he took meoffofeverything." he spoke almost unintelligible words as his head sways to the side from his unsteady balance. "You have everything, Ahlson! Every month, you not only get a check from him but…but….you get my check as well! What…kind of bullshit is that?"

"What kind of bullshit is that? _What kind of bullshit is that?!_ All of this for some _fucking money_?!" Alison scream at him with her throat now feeling constricted. In a huff, Alison twists around and strides over to her closet, swinging the door open, and turning on the lights. Amy places her hands on her head in disbelief of everything. As soon as she kicked Cece out, she made a quick, emergency dial to Miranda, however, when she heard the sound of glass breaking, she ran back inside the apartment to see a fight of life and death. Alison finally emerges about a few silent moments with a manila envelope.

"Ever since dad has been sending me your checks, I haven't touched not one! You stupid, asshole!" Alison rips open the envelope and dumps about 3 years' worth of monthly $500 checks on him.

"I've been saving each and every single one of them for you! Because I knew one day you were going to need it! $18,000 worth of money right there!" she then chucks the envelope in his face, balling her hands into tight fists. "Way more than you would have ever made stealing from me! From selling drugs!"

She takes a few steps back, running her hands through her hair, unknowingly transferring his blood onto her blonde strands as she starts pacing back and forth. Her panting mixes with rambles while the entire place stood silent with Emily and Jack watching by the bathroom door, his arms still around her waist.

"You're not my family. Nononono – you're not anyone to me. I don't ever want to see you again. Ever, ever, ever, ever, I _never_ want to see you again. I don't care if 10 years from now you have a change of heart and turn your life around, don't fucking contact me because from this moment on you're dead to me. DEAD TO ME, YOU HEAR ME?!" spins back and shrieks at her brother who still sat in the explosion of glass what once used to be a coffee table.

"You are dead to me! _DEAD!_ Just like mom! You are dead to me! And the fucked up part is I've only know Jack for a few months and he's more of a brother to me than you ever were! The only reason I'm not calling the cops and pressing charges on your ass is because when they get here, Emily is going to get fucking arrested for attempted fucking murder! Which I should have let her, you piece of SHIT."

Emily tries to squirms out of Jack's hold, promising him that she won't go off again. He's hesitant at first, not knowing if this was a ploy to let her go so she can actually kill Jason but his faith in her word makes him free her. At this point, Emily's main focus is on Alison because she can hear in her strained and now hoarse voice that she's getting physically weak.

"I don't want anyone else in my apartment or in my fucking business because before, nobody knew me! Now the whole building knows who the fuck the DiLaurentis' are and what kind of savages they are to their own people!" Alison goes off and begins hitting Jason with her eyes clouded with tears. Emily runs up behind her girlfriend and grabs her arms, pulling her into to her.

"GET HIM OUT OF MY APARTMENT NOW! GET HIM OUT!"

Jack and Amy look at each other briefly, a silent communication, before they both move towards Jason to get him up. Alison's harsh pants turn into loud wheezes as she tightly holds onto Emily's wrists.

**Without a second thought, Emily throws Alison's arm over her shoulder, puts her arm underneath Alison's legs, and lifts her out of the chair, supporting her back with her other arm in a bridal carry. She felt Alison's body tremble against her own as she continued to hyperventilate.**

Both Emily and Alison stumble backwards as the back of her legs hit Alison's bed. Together they fall onto the bed with Emily hugging her ever close. She feels the caving in and out of her chest and begins to whisper affirmatives in her ear.

**Emily sits down next to the blonde and goes to hold her in hand when Alison falls to the side and lands in Emily's lap. She tightly holds onto Emily's legs as Emily sits there, perplexed at what she is to do with someone breathing so hard that they might pass out. As she looks around, she notices Alison's robe was draped open, exposing her naked body underneath. She reaches over and closes the garment, fixing it to cover all of her. Her hands trail up to Alison's hair and begins smoothing it backwards as she calmly speaks words of reassurance.**

"It's okay, I got you. You're right here with me. Breathe, baby, breathe."

Emily goes from a bear hug to intertwining their fingers together while she spoons her. Her own voice was scratchy and out of breath but she did her all to remain calm for Alison. She was going into her second panic attack, nearly gasping for air as Emily continued to calmly talk to her.

"Baby, listen to me, I'm right here."

"I….I want h…him out, Emily!"

"He's leaving, he's leaving. But I need you to breathe, okay?"

Alison begins sobbing through her huffing and Emily closes her eyes in pain and anger. Anger for what Jason did to her and pain for hearing Alison cry. She kisses her shoulder, opening her eyes to see Jack pushing a stumbling Jason towards the door and Amy collecting his things.

"Come on, let's count."

**The signs have always been there. Didn't you notice?**

**My challenge for you is to go back and find the moments when Jason's ulterior motives where shown other that you might have not caught the first time. Put in your review and there's a possibility I'll shed light on all the shady things you've probably missed.**

**I know you have 101 things going through your mind right now so I'll let you be.**

**Last and final chapter of Trouvaille next update...**


	34. Chapter 34: Aftershock Tremors

**There may not be any PLL tonight but here is an update from your friend :)**

CHAPTER #34: Aftershock Tremors

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

Sunday...

Emily's fingers drag through Alison's warm scalp as they sit on the edge of Alison's bed. After the whole confrontation with Jason, the switch has been flipped into slow motion for the past two days. The broken stand and shattered glass was discarded and Emily's hand and forearm was patched up for her cuts. However, ever since Friday night, there has been nothing but silence. So silent that while Emily massaged Alison's scalp, she had a soft Spotify playlist playing from the TV. She couldn't take the overwhelming stillness and felt that Alison shouldn't submerge herself in such environment either.

Pressing her body against Alison's back, Emily sweeps her silky blonde hair across the left side of her neck. She leans forward and places a gentle kiss on the open space. With her eyes closed, inhaling Alison's sweet scent, she starts caressing the sides of Alison's arms as she now kisses her shoulder. The music was just the right pace to keep the wavelength in the room constant and smooth. Nothing fast, loud, or exciting. Just the kind of sounds that echoes around the room and surrounds you but doesn't suffocate you. It's there with you when you feel like the world isn't.

"Are you here with me?" Emily whispers innocently into Alison's ear as she continues to rub up on her arms, giving her some kind of stimulation - some warmth. There is no answer given back in response and all Emily could do is sigh internally.

_The continuous silence._

Kissing her neck little by little, Emily slowly pulls Alison backwards into her until she is laying on the bed on her back. Emily grabs a hold of her hand, massaging it before she gives a kiss as well with her eyes on her quiet girlfriend.

"It's just us here…it's just us. You and me."

With her other hand, she reaches out for Alison's cheek and begins to stroke her ever so gently. It wasn't long before she shifted herself closer and climbed on top of Alison with her arm to hold her up. The girl that she met broken, held together by Elmer's glue, the one she watched glow and glisten in the sun with a smile finally freed from the restrictions of her past laid beneath her lifeless. Emily continued to hold her face in the palm of her hand as her eyes glazed over every part of her. Being with Alison for the time she's had, she's had experienced those slow days where Alison felt like staying in her bed and not getting out. But this? She's never seen her recoil as bad as she has now. It's much more than what a few runs of a hairbrush, some chocolate milk, and movies can fix.

"I love you…._you know that, right_?" Emily's voice comes out in a low whisper as she tried to look in Alison's eyes that stayed down and away from contact. "No matter how far you drift, I'm still going to love you. I'm still going to be here. I made that promise to you. I'm not going anywhere."

Not even a blink came out of Alison, just as expected, but it didn't kept Emily from trying to soothe her. She's read things online that said to sometimes leave a depressed person be and not smoother them but Emily refused. She knew Alison and the last thing she was going to do was leave her alone. She urged Alison to go with her to her apartment several times but the moment her panic attack subsided that night, she's been resistant and unresponsive to nearly everything around her.

Emily's fingers crawl to lightly grip the side of Alison's face when she leans down to kiss her forehead. Her lips hover above Alison's skin briefly before she lowers herself and kisses the tip of her nose. Then cheek….to cheek, Emily placed a warm and assuring kiss before she made her way gradually to her lips. So faintly, Emily pressed her lips against Alison's. Light enough to not seem forceful but with just the right amount of pressure to physically show Alison that she's right there. She holds herself there for a few seconds while her thumb stroked Alison's face before she parts. Her eyes flicker open to glance up when she's noticed that Alison's eyes were still low. Emily desperately wishes to bring Alison out just a tiny bit, to be acknowledged. She wanted to help ease her mind and take it away from the negatives of her life. She wanted the focus to be on them. In that moment. Alison deserves that peace of mind.

"Baby, look at me." Emily encourages her with a twinge of desperation hinting in her words. "_Please_…"

Alison lays still under Emily's touch, just lightly breathing and merely existing at that point but nothing else. Two days of no sense of reaction towards her presence made Emily in grave need for something – some kind of response. She tries again, bending down to kiss Alison once more when Alison snakes her face to the side, away from the contact.

Someone could have shot Emily, could have stabbed her in the back, yanked her by her hair off the bed, or carried out any other kind of physical attack and it would not Have felt any worse than the cracking of her heart. Emily stares down at Alison, eyes wounded while Alison's eyes stayed hidden.

"_Ali_…" Emily calls to her softly. Alison doesn't move. Doesn't look her way. Doesn't do anything but keep her troubled face bowed off to the side.

Just then, Emily felt like she didn't know how to do anything. She knew that Alison was being numb to everything around her but to see her willfully reject her stung. She knows it isn't her fault but it didn't stop her chest from hurting any less. Seeing how Alison is and how the communication between them was completely nonexistent, to the point Emily can't even kiss her, didn't feel real. From there, Emily rolls off of Alison just when Alison turns over to the side. Emily freezes as she stares at the back of Alison, now feeling gutted more than before. Still, she gets in close and wraps her arms around her sad love to hold her in silence.

That's how they lay. With silence between them and low melodies around them - a tear dropping from Emily's eye as she searches for Alison's hand with her own to interlock.

Monday...

Knocks on the door gain Emily's attention and she walks over to peak through the peephole to see who was on the other side. After a few turns of a couple locks, Emily welcomes in Amy and Miranda with a hushed hello as they look onto Alison sitting on her bed, facing the wall with her back towards them. Amy's eyes start to water, as if on cue, and throws a hand over her mouth as she walks into the apartment past Emily to console her friend.

"How's she's been holding up?" Miranda asks quietly as they both watch Amy sit beside Alison and wrap her arms around her in a tight hug.

Emily shakes her head with a weary sigh. "She hasn't spoken a word since Jason left. I've pretty much moved my schedule around so that I don't have to leave her side but this….this is scary." she crosses her arms with unease weighing her face down. "I've never seen her like this."

"We have. And it takes more than a bowl of soup and hand holding to get her out of it. Perfect timing for this shit to happen considering how better things have gotten."

"How did you guys end up pushing her through it?"

"_Patience_. When she's ready, she'll let you know."

Emily simply nods as her head falls a bit. She doesn't know why she hoped for a more direct, how-to answer but she took what should could get at this point.

"Alison, babe?" Miranda called out as she began walking towards the bed, shuffling with the plastic bags she held in her hands. "I brought you some Hawaiian sweet rolls. I know how much you love them and guess what? This whole pack was on sale for a dollar. _Sooooo_, I brought five." she smiles as she pulls out the orange packaging. Holding it next to her, everyone waits for some kind of acknowledgment that never comes. Alison doesn't react to Miranda's voice let alone the bread she brought her. She continues to stare off into the void of the white wall before her.

"If you eat them all, I need you to tell me so I can run over there to get some more, okay?" Miranda continues to push gently. "I almost mauled over this grandma for the last ones and I'm prepared to do it again. All you have to do is give me the heads up, alright?"

Amy kisses Alison's hand as she tries to look her in the eyes that held nothing but distance. "Talk to us, Ali, _please_."

The girls wait for nothing, once more.

"Okay. She really appreciates you guys coming over to check on her but I think it's better if we give her some time to herself." Emily gives a tight, trying smile.

Amy holds onto her hand for a few more moments, hoping for something before she hugs her again, kissing her cheek before getting up. Miranda hands over the bags of sweet rolls to Emily and then approaches Alison for her goodbye, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Emily then slowly walks the girls towards the front door although they had just arrived.

Alison hears the distant, soft talking among the three. With a silent sigh, all energy has been drained out of her soul and she felt as if she was free falling into darkness in slow motion. Completely hopeless. No matter what did, she cannot stop herself from falling. And although she's fading, she can't help but to feel that everything and everyone around her were to no help. With the hand and forehead kisses and being patted down like a puppy, it made her feel worse. Now she's burdening everyone with her issues when she could be left alone and not babysat.

_Listen to them chatter among themselves. Talking about what to do with you. Don't you get it? They deserve more than to have a black thunder cloud as a person ruining their day just because you feel bad_, Alison's inner conscious whispers in her ear. _Things would probably be better without you. Not probably - they will be better without you._

_Push them away._

_Tell them to go._

_Seclude yourself._

_That's all we want. _

_Isolate yourself. _

_We'll take care of you, Ali._

The sounds of unwrapping is heard before a weight next to Alison presses down on the bed next to her.

"_Mmm!_ These are so good." Emily munches on a sweet roll as she talks out loud her thoughts in hope of getting Alison's attention. "Ali, if you don't eat this, I surely will."

Alison slowly turns her frown-riddled face into Emily's direction where they hold eye contact. This look immediately brought Emily from a smile to a worried strain. The goosebumps she felt by Alison staring at her like a soul dammed to purgatory was unexplainable.

"Alison, _talk to me._ I miss your voice..." Emily begs within her sighs. Alison's haunting stare continues with not even a blink. Emily is only able to take a few seconds of silence before she moves closer to Alison, now feeling beside herself.

"I'm right here, baby, I'm right here. Just talk to me. _Say anything_. Please."

With a fall of her eyes away from Emily's, Alison slowly turns her head the other way and lays down on the bed on her side, facing the wall she stared at once again. Emily bites down on the inside of her bottom lip and nods to herself as she realizes they will continue to be in silence with one another for yet another day. She looks down at the rolls in her hands, suddenly not knowing what to do with it. The weight on the bed eases up as Emily stands and walks over to the kitchen, scratching her head. She exchanges the bread for a tube of ointment that was left on the counter-top and begins opening it on her way back to Alison. Without a word, Emily squeezes a small portion on her fingers as she crawls onto her side of the bed. She keeps her eyes on Alison' as she lifted up Alison's blue, long sleeve night shirt just enough to expose the small of her back.

Her bruise from the kitchen bar now had a purple-blue mix of a hue and every time Emily sees it, she grits her teeth in resentment. Seeing her own small bruising and stitches from her fight with Jason didn't stir much in her like seeing Alison's reminder of that day. It was so unnecessary to shove her the way Jason did knowing she's smaller than him. Knowing he's stronger than her. Knowing she'll tumble backwards with the bar right behind her.

Emily closes her eyes and breathes in to stop her mind from riling itself up. She didn't want to go there again. As far as she remembers, Alison was pushed and at that exact second, it was as if the shutters to her vision was slammed shut and all she saw was black. She vaguely remembers the actual fight happening but sometimes, her brain would flash spotted moments from the whole altercation. She remembers objects crashing to the floor, people yelling in the background, and Jason cutting off her breathing as he put her in a tight headlock. However, she has no memory of going through a glass table. No recollection of being on top of Jason and driving her fists into his face over and over again. No remembrance of Jack having to use all his strength to pull her back as she was holding onto the bathroom door frame, about to rip it off the wall in an attempt to get to Jason for a round two. None of that she recalls. Even after Jack finally convinced her at 11pm to go to the hospital while Amy stayed with Alison and get her arm stitched up, when he explained the whole occurrence to her, she thought he was fabricating parts of it to be dramatic.

"**Dramatic?! Why do I have to dramatize a story when YOUR ARM IS LIVING PROOF WHAT HAPPENED!" Jack switches his sights from the road to Emily in the passenger seat of Alison's Audi, keeping her right arm up as she holds the cuts with a hand towel to keep blood from dripping. **

"**If I say you fought through a glass table but made it out without a scratch, you call me out on bullshit. But if I say you fought through a fucking glass table and now you're bleeding everywhere, don't you think I would be….uhm….I don't know-TELLING THE TRUTH?! ****_Jesus_**

Emily shakes that night out of her head as she reaches forward and begins rubbing the cream on Alison's bruise. Even with the contact of the cold ointment to her warm skin, Alison doesn't even flinch as one would do at first. Emily tries to not take this personal. She knows that Alison isn't giving _her _the silent treatment but just not in the mood to speak. And that's okay – she has the right to feel the way she does but it doesn't hurt any less when Alison ignores the world and her in it.

...

A deep inhale followed by a long, hiss of an exhale makes Emily's body rise and fall as she naps on the couch. After watching random marathon reruns of Law and Order SVU on nearly silent, she found herself passing out without even realizing. It wasn't 4pm yet but with all the blinds closed and curtains blocking the outside from coming it, it felt like night all day.

The bathroom door slowly opens as the light inside is turned off. Out comes Alison in a fresh pair of pajamas after taking a shower she had to force herself to take. With Emily sleeping, it took Alison being in the bathroom for nearly two hours to do so. She shuffles her way out and instead of rolling herself onto her bed, she kept her feet moving.

Far away deep within her subconscious, Emily is suddenly awoken when she feels Alison crawl directly on top of her. She blinks her eyes several time in adjustment as Alison lays her body against hers, nuzzling her head right under Emily's chin. Emily goes to set her hand on her back right when Alison lifted herself up and kissed her on the nose before settling down on her chest again.

Emily doesn't know why but she's shell-shocked at this unexpected behavior. From acting like she didn't exist to snuggling, there proved to be some kind of progress. Nothing huge but baby steps, nonetheless. Emily holds Alison close to her with a small smile on her face that she couldn't help.

"I love you." a small voice floats up to Emily's ears. At that point, Emily was certain Alison could hear her racing heart. It might have been said in a whisper but it came out in exclamation points to Emily and her small smile increased greatly. She leans her face forward and kisses the top of Alison's head and holds onto her tightly.

"I love you too. I love you so much…"

Tuesday...

Emily shoves her notebooks into her bag as she runs through her mental checklist. "So, I will be back ASAP. It shouldn't take me too long since it's just one final today. Call or text me if you need anything, alright?"

"Okay." Alison shortly responds as she sits on the edge of her bed with her hands in her lap. She watches Emily go through her phone briefly as she walked up to her. Alison gazes up at her with big eyes as Emily tapped away on her phone before putting it in her pocket and crouching down to her eye level. She reaches out for Alison's face, holding her warm cheek against her palm for a moment.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Alison squeaks out in a low tone. Emily leans forward to give her a single kiss goodbye, holding their lips in place for a few seconds. Alison lifts her hand to rest on top of Emily's before they pull apart. Emily softly smiles at her with Alison returning with more of a sad but trying smile of her own. With time being of essence, Emily stands up, readjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder, utters her goodbyes, and strides her way out the door.

For the first time in a while, Alison sits alone in her apartment and….she doesn't know exactly what to do with herself. Her eyes glances around her quiet studio before they fall to her idle hands.

...

"How is my little Goldilocks?" Jack asks Emily through his phone call as she opens the entrance doors of Alison's apartment lobby, leading to the warm outside air.

"Well, she's upgraded from no talking to small responses. The biggest sentence she has said was, '_Can I have some ice cream?_' A big whopping 6 words at a time." Emily tells him as she begins walking down the street towards her apartment garage to get her car. "We're making progress."

"Fuck, that's horrible."

"I know but baby steps. It's all about baby steps."

Alison bites off the skin of her upper lip as she sits on the bed within her thoughts. A few additional moments pass by before she gets up and shuffles her way in the direction of the front of her apartment. She slips her feet into a pair of slider sandals, grabs her keys off the wall hook, and walks out the door. Down the hallway, in the elevator lowered to the first floor, Alison silently makes her way towards the mail-room for the occupants of the building. It's been a while since she's checked her box and the last thing she needs is to spiral down into depression and forget to pay the bills. As swift as she can be, Alison unlocks her assigned mailbox, pulls out a handful of envelopes and a couple of magazines that she expected to be there, and closes it shut with the twist of her key. All kinds of assorted things were sent to her: bills, subscriptions, spam, and a coupon to a nearby Chinese buffet.

"Good morning, Alison!" a croaky voice from an old man captures her attention coming into the room with a broom and dustpan.

"Hi, Gerry." Alison greets him with a genuine, easy smile. Gerald, Gerry to Alison, was one of the janitors of that she had the pleasure of getting to know. Ever since she's moved in, he has been like a friend to her. Sweet and joyous like a grandpa. Although with his age, he should have retired by now but working at this job longer than she's been alive, he's always kept a smile on his face.

Gerald looks at Alison up and down above his glasses that sat on the lower part of his nose. "Why are you in your jammies? You need to be ready for your work with the soaps! Or making fashion clothes for models!"

"I'm just tired." Alison gave back with her lips pressed together in a tight smile.

"I think….I have just the thing to wake you up…" he digs into his pockets as the bulk of keys he wore clipped onto his pants jingled. He pulled out two pink Jolly Ranchers with an open mouthed grin that resembled a grandfather giving candy to their grandchildren.

"You haven't changed your liking for pink lemonade, have you?"

Alison's tilts her head at him, looking at his hand with nothing but a warm feeling. She nods her head and reaches out to accept the treat. "Thank you, Gerry."

"You are very welcome, Alison! Enjoy it!"

He gives her a pat on her shoulder and walks on by her to start sweeping. Alison pockets the small candies and leaves to get out of his way. Getting to the elevators, she presses the button to try to get back to her apartment as quickly as she can with seeing the minimum amount of people. After waiting about 20 seconds, the doors slide open and she hops in as a guy stands in the corner, seeming to feel the same way she feels – not wanting to be bothered. With his arms crossed, hat and head bowed with music playing in his earphones, Alison takes a brief look at him before she presses her floor level, and stands in her own corner. She could hear the faint beat of whatever song the guy was listening to while she looked at her mail to past the time.

The doors open up to her floor and she slips her way out. Usually when she walks down this corridor, she's with Emily hand-in-hand. Last time, after their barbeque party with all their alcohol consumption, Emily basically carried her to the door. Now by herself….it feels kind of weird.

Alison gets her keys, unlocks her door, and opens it when she feels some kind of hard object pressed into her back.

"Don't say anything." the grim voice whispers harshly in her ear. "Just open the door and walk in."

Eyes widen and air caught in her throat, Alison's entire body becomes paralyzed with fear. It was almost as if she forgot how to walk when she's pushed along inside her apartment. She dares to look over her shoulder as the door is being closed and all she was able to see was a hat before she was forced to walk further in.

It was the same guy in the elevator.

Was this a hold up? Was this planned or was she just a random victim guilty of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?

"Now….we're going to make this really simple." he directs her until she walks into her living room. He yanks the mail out of her hands and tosses them on her bed before he slowly turns her around so they could be face to face.

"You scream, make any sounds of trouble and a bullet gets pumped into your chest. Do I make myself clear?"

Frightened, Alison looks into the man's eyes and her heart sinks into the depths of her stomach.

**When she goes to pull on the entrance door, a guy pushes it at the same time, creating a small blunder of who walks first. He holds it open and steps to the side, allowing everyone to come inside.**

**"Thank you." Alison nods at the guy.**

**"No problem." he smiles back with his striking green eyes that she immediately got locked into. They go in their separate ways with him leaving and she sticks to her that she's never seen a pair of eyes so green.**

She wasn't even able to process any thought past that discovery until the unnamed guy began speaking again.

"Now…._Jason?_ _Your brother?_ Yeah, he owes me some money."

"Jason's not here anymore." Alison quickly gasps out a rebuttal, surprising herself how fast she started talking.

"Exactly." he smiles as he continues to hold up the pistol pointed at Alison. "The son of a bitch skipped town. I don't know why but he did. And _when_ he did, he skipped town without paying me what he owes. _And see_….I have a problem with that because that makes things complicated for me. Now I have to search people down just to get what belongs to me….and that's not fair." he articulates himself in a smooth, calm and collected manner.

Tears well up in Alison's eyes as her breathing becomes fast and shaky. "_Please_. I don't have any money."

"Oh, of course you do. Look at where you live. Look at your place, look at your TV….look at the car you drive." he reminds her with a patient grin. "Of course you have money, sweetheart. And I'm not fucking leaving here until I get it. That means by whatever means necessary."

He cocks the gun and the crisp sound sends intense shivers throughout Alison's body, making every hair stand straight up on it's ends. She quickly raises her trembling hands, surrendering to him.

"P-p-please! I beg you, don't do this! Jason took off with everything I have. I-I-I…I have nothing, I swear. I don't even k-"

Alison's ringtone goes off, cutting right into her sentence as both their necks snap to her phone on the couch.

"Who is that?" he nods his head at the phone, allowing Alison to walk towards it and look at the screen.

"It's…" she shakes her head, swallowing down hard as she tries to speak clearly. "It's my girlfriend."

He looks at Alison with squinted eyes before he licks his lips, now stepping closer to her. "I'm going to give you 10 seconds to answer it. Tell her you're fine and that you're going to take a nap, then hang up. You say anything thing else, _any other words than what I just said_, you're _dead_."

Alison somberly drops her eyes to her hands and answers the call, putting the phone up to her ears. "…H-hello?"

"Hey! I just wanted to call and check up on you while I'm on my way to class. _I know_ I just left but still." Emily rambles an explanation as if anyone was going to ask why she was calling. "Just seeing if you're okay over there."

Alison glances over at the gunman.

"I'm…I'm okay-I'm fine." she quickly corrects herself with her eyes closed tight. "I'm going to take a nap."

He nods his head accordingly.

"Okay. I should see you in a little bit, then." Emily tells her.

"I love you." Alison says but this time with such emotion behind the words. Emily couldn't help but smile at it, believing that she's slowly coming around.

"I love you too, baby."

Tears rush out of Alison's eyes and down her face as she inhales shakenly. The guy jumps at Alison and snatches the phone out of her hands, hanging it up immediately. Alison begins to silently sob as she wraps her arms around herself in a hug. Making sure it was completely off, the guy looks up at Alison and aims the gun at her once more.

"I said 10 seconds."

"_I'm sorry_…" she whispers with her voice now finally leaving her. Feeling irritated, the guy groans out a heavy sigh as he stares right into Alison's soul with his penetrating green eyes.

"Let me tell you something…..I came here for _one_ thing and _one_ thing _only_. I have no intentions of hurting you. _But…._if you try anything….anything at all…I will make your death look like a fucking suicide."

**_Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?_****" Emily winces at the question. "This one is a tough one…I'm going to keep positive and say I'll die of old age" Emily laughs, "Anything else is too depressing."**

**Alison looks forward in Emily's direction but not directly at her. "I probably would die at the hands of someone." She emptily states.**

**Once again, the smile is wiped off of Emily's face, "Damn. That's…That's ****_brutal_****." she responds nearly speechless. "Wha-why would you say that?"**

**Alison shrugs nonchalantly as she continues to look past Emily**.

...

**This isn't goodbye. Not just yet.**

**\- AM**


	35. Epilogue

**Well, well, well…..Surprise.**

Epilogue

_Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. _**Bolded is a flashback. **(….) is an indication that time has passed.

The harsh clicking sound lingers within Alison's mind while she brings her shaky hands together, not knowing what to do with them. Putting her eyes to the floor under her feet, she tries to breathe steadily but her heart thumping against her chest makes it a bit choppy.

"You okay, there?"

Alison brings her head up to see the red frames of Dr. Elliott's glasses before her. She shakes her head with a small, awkward chuckle.

"Yeah. I'm…I'm just nervous."

"About this session or from what you told me?"

"…..A bit of both, I guess…."

Accepting her answer, Dr. Elliott reaches for the silver patter on the wooden coffee table between them and grabbed one of the two small cups, gesturing it to Alison. She silently thanks her and takes the warmth into her hands, the fresh scent of chamomile tea tickling her nose.

"It just….It just felt so real. Everything felt-" Alison anxiously taps on the sides of the tea cup as it slightly quakes in her grasp. "I mean I was certain."

"You're dealing with an incredible amount of things on your plate right now, Alison." Dr. Elliott leans back into her chair as she crosses her ankles and she folds her manicured hands on top of her black, skinny slacks. "Not taking your medication, the hatred towards your brother, stress about the whole situation….it all seeped into your subconscious and that was the only signal your brain was receiving. All this drama. So your brain took what you gave it and concocted your worst case scenario."

She watches Alison take a sip of the tea she personally brews for their sessions, knowing she enjoys it and it helps ease her nerves whenever it's time to talk.

"I really wished you would have called as soon as it happened."

Alison swallows down and leans forward to place her drink back on the platter. "I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking. About anything really."

"No need to apologize. You're here now and that's all that matters."

Alison slowly nods her head and moments of silence pass through them both. However, while Alison is swimming in the black sea of her thoughts, Dr. Elliott stares at her with a smile gradually becoming more apparent on her face.

"So…I'm about to finally the celebrity herself, huh?"

Like a light switch, the corners of Alison's lips twitch upwards while her cheeks begin to gather heat. She turns her head to the side, avoiding looking directly at her therapist.

"Oh, don't get shy with me now!" Dr. Elliott scoots to the edge of her chair with a laugh. Alison was unable to hide her beam breaking through to the surface and all Dr. Elliott could do is look at her with her head tilt in wonder.

"I'm not being shy." Alison licks her lips, forcing her smile into a light smirk as she tries to be serious and look at her.

"_Mhmmm_." Dr. Elliott raises a brow with her own knowing smirk. "You looked at like an eight year talking about their crush just now."

"I don't know what you're on about."

Dr. Elliott's eyes briefly glance down Alison's body while she tried to uphold her new act of not blushing. Her breathing is more controlled. The trembles of her hands seemed to have gone. Her feet, although, began to slightly fidget but with the mere switch of conversation, she knows it's because of Emily.

"If anyone should be shy, it should be me." Dr. Elliott clears her throat as she rolls up the sleeves of her cropped, tan blazer over her white button up blouse. "I'm the one whose meeting this fairytale lover as you seem to always describe her."

"Fairytale lover?" Alison scrunches up her nose in amusement.

Dr. Elliott laughs. "Yes! She sounds like a fairytale lover. The kind you read in a romance book and absolutely fall head over heels for, wishing you had someone like that in your life."

"The start of our relationship was a fairytale. Only seems appropriate that the dreamy aspect of it continues, right?"

"Well, not entirely. That is the downfall of relationships, sometimes. People can't live up to the standard of how things started and then everything fizzles from there because it's not 'dreamy' anymore."

"That's the difference with, Em, I feel like. Our relationship isn't a fairytale in the means of it being perfect all the time. We have our share of negative moments. But the difference is _trying_. She's very persistent and tries with all her heart. And…." Alison's head bows down to look at the light blue blot prints on her dark zipper dress, allowing herself to feel her words through the warm shiver she's experiencing.

"That's what I love about her. She's big on happy endings. She's always been that way since we were younger. Even though we weren't friends or anything, when I did talk to her through projects or classwork, I picked up on it very quickly. She hasn't changed much since then except she's not shy like she used to be."

"That's because you now took that trait. Being all shy when I bring her up." Dr. Elliott teases, making Alison roll her eyes with a scoff covering her smile. Her eyes land on the window besides Dr. Elliott's desk and she finds herself staring at it for no particular reason. The therapist follows Alison's gazes, seeing nothing but the large Dogwood tree outside her building that bloomed pink flowers during the season. But where she sees full pink flowers, Alison sees something completely different.

**Working on a timer, with the sky darkening underneath the sunset, the dim skies slowly brightens up with the trees glowing a soft pink aura from the hundreds of LED lights suspended above them and spread across the entire park. With the small murmur of awe from the park-goers and the waves of the intro of a melody charged music track playing to accompany the scenery, Alison silently gasps to herself as she takes in the unreal beauty of a sight in front of her.**

**"**_**More and more this keeps turning into a fairytale…**_**" She soundlessly mumbles to herself, inaudible for Emily to catch onto.**

Alison glances up at Dr. Elliott, with an easy and restful face. "There's no need to dream when she exists." Alison softly smiles.

All Dr. Elliott could do is take in her words as gold. As she truly feels. Something she hasn't experienced in a long time.

"How do you know that you're not in a story right now? Being read by thousands of people?" She brings up the fairytale lover quip again. Playing along, Alison looks around the room, looking for cameras or some kind of wall that random strangers are peering into her life through.

"Well, I'd be very embarrassed."

"Why embarrassed?"

"Because they've probably read all the…..trouble we've gotten into."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

Alison looks up at the ceiling where she imagines the reader would tower above her and gives an expressive wink before she looks back at Dr. Elliott with a laugh.

A knock at the door sounds and both their attention goes straight towards it. Dr. Elliott flicks her brow and stands up, walking over to the door as Alison follows and raises to her feet. She smooths over her short, high neck, sleeveless dress before quickly combing her fingers through her hair. On this Wednesday morning, Emily had to leave for work earlier than usual and they weren't able to see each other wake up. Although she sees her every day, it still didn't stop her from making sure her appearance was presentable whenever they cross paths after a long day.

"Hello, you must be Emily. I'm Dr. Grace Elliott, nice to finally meet you."

"Hi." Alison can hear the smile in her voice. "The pleasure is all mine."

Dr. Elliott steps to the side, allowing Emily and Alison to immediately lock eyes. Wearing a long-sleeved, silk, plaid blouse with the front tucked into her dark blue, pinstripe jeans, Emily's smile grows larger upon seeing Alison holding her hands in front of her, patiently waiting with a light grin of her own. Emily walks up to her, no time wasted in giving her a snug embrace.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Every time I went to clock out, more and more people came in." She whispers.

"It's okay, you came right on time." Alison gazes up at her once they separated. Emily looks to Dr. Elliott who was adjusting herself in her chair with her notepad now in her hands. Both girls take their seat next to each other on the couch Alison sat on, waiting for the next move.

Emily was particularly nervous because she had no idea what to expect from this joint-session. The only time she's been in an office like this was in Rosewood High when the school made it a thing for children of deployed military members to see a counselor, just in case they needed someone to talk to. And even there she felt nervous.

"Glad that you found it in your busy schedule to join us, Emily. I know with work and finals, things are probably a bit hectic right now." Dr. Elliott begins.

"It's no problem. I'm more than willing to be somewhere if I'm needed to help." Emily glances over at Alison, reaching out to hold her hand before looking back that the therapist.

"I don't want this to feel weird, almost like a couple's therapy. I think you two are the two _least_ people who needs to sign up for that." Dr. Elliot gives a little smirk that causes both Emily and Alison to lightly chuckle back.

"However, Alison felt that it would be beneficial for you to have more of an insight about her inner-most thoughts. Now, I don't want you to feel that Alison is keeping things from you or not telling you things because she don't trust you. It's just because this has grown to be a more….permanent safe place for her. Not that you're not."

"Yes, I get it." Emily nods her head, looking from Dr. Elliott to Alison back to Dr. Elliott. "I'm still kinda new to the picture. I don't expect her to tell me every little thought she's ever had but at the same time, I want her to feel comfortable enough to do so if she ever wanted to."

"Perfect. And I think she'll have no problem doing so as time passes-"

"I want to say I'm sorry." Alison spurts out with guilt as she twists her body to face Emily.

Concerned by the sudden apology, Emily's eyes widen. She leans into Alison naturally as she searches her face. "Sorry about what?"

"For ignoring you." The sunlit face Alison once wore just a minute ago now sagged in remorse as she looked down at their hands together. "I know you probably felt that I hated you but I didn't. It's just that I don't do well with big, sudden events. I'm so used to being alone and taking care of myself that I don't know how to be with someone else completely in every aspect. I thought I did-"

"I _never_ thought you hated me, Ali. You were processing a huge thing and I knew it hurt you. I knew being distant wasn't personal. That's why I told you _'no matter how far you drift, I'm still going to love you. I'm still going to be here.'_ Through sunny days to 30 feet tsunami waves, remember?"

A tear falls out of Alison's eye and she reaches for a tissue that was held in a Kleenex box next to the tea cups. "_Sorry_..." she laughs to cover up her suddenly overwhelm of emotions. Emily frowns as she strokes Alison's hand, not wishing to see her cry.

"For all the years I've known Alison, there certainly has been a growth in her that was pleasant to witness." Dr. Elliott quietly adds in her input, causing both girls to look in her direction. "In the beginning, when you first came into the picture, she still had her walls pretty high. Then, slowly, they started falling and you could really tell she really started feeling things. There were even some moments when she thought you were too good for her."

"_Alison_…." Emily's mouth drops in an astounded gasp as she turns to face her girlfriend that was trying to not smidge her makeup. "This girl is the most _beautiful_ girl I've ever laid my eyes on, Dr. Elliott. Most beautiful girl. _And she knows this!_ I've always felt that way towards her since freshman year of high school, did you know that?" she glances over at the therapist.

"I have a bit of knowledge about it." Dr. Elliot nods with a little smile.

"I had a _huge _crush on Alison DiLaurentis." Emily grins back at Alison who stares at her with watery yet admiring eyes. "_Boy_….can she command a room. An auditorium, if she wanted."

Emily sighs.

"And even though she was a bit of a mean girl-"

"_A bit?_" Alison pushes out a single chuckle as she goes to wipe under her eyes again. "I was an insensitive bitch. Let's not sugarcoat that."

"Even though she had her flaws…." Emily rolled her eyes at Alison's attempt to make her call her out of her name. "I always felt that I could see past that. Past the character. Like I could see the real her that she didn't want others to know even existed. The girl who was soft." she beams out of joy. "And I saw that girl again….years later….on the rooftop of her apartment. Her skin glowing from city lights under the beautiful night sky. Something millions would pay to witness on the crisp and extreme definition of a 4k TV."

"You showed me what happiness is supposed to feel like, Emily." Alison responds as she gazes deeply into her large brown eyes that she finds herself captured within every time she stares at them.

Emily's head falls to the side as she marvel at Alison and her words. "_Ali_…"

"I feel like….I don't tell you this enough – how much you make my heart sing." her chin begins to tremble the smile she held while Emily's eyes suddenly started to sting. "I know I'm a mess of a person. I know I get sensitive and fall into these dark spells but….You're always there for me. Even when I feel like I don't deserve you."

The words get caught in Alison's throat as she cannot help but to drop her head to silently sob. Dr. Elliott frowns sadly at Alison's overcoming of emotions and rips out some more tissues from the Kleenex box and hands it to Emily as she soothed Alison's hand. She knew these were the signs of a breakthrough moment and she was very interested to see how Emily takes to her, seeing that Alison mentioned that she feels like she doesn't articulate her sentiments as much.

Alison takes one of the tissues from Emily and wipes her face before looking back up at her. "One of my biggest regrets…..is that my mother will never get the chance to really meet you. To know how much of an influence you have on my life." she shakes her head, closing her eyes although she couldn't stop crying. "She would have loved you…..she really would have."

Pain struck Emily in the heart hearing Alison speak. She tried to stay strong and be that rock for her but the last sentence, hearing Alison's regret, chopped away at her legs, giving her nothing to stand on. Tears rolled down her increasingly warm face as she tried to take deep, calmed breaths.

That regret really did hurt, hearing that Alison has been holding that near her heart. How she wishes she could just erase all of her pain away forever...

"A couple of days ago when you tried to kiss me and I moved away from you, the next day when I had realized I did that and remembered the look on your face with the small glance I took…I cried _so hard_ in that bathroom. I felt so disgusted with myself for doing that to you when all you try to do is take care of me." A shaky, child-like voice comes out of Alison as she slightly cowered her head into herself as she looked at Emily, her face completely stained at this point.

"_It's okay_." Emily's voice cracks as she tried to give an assuring smile.

"No, it's not, Em." Alison quickly corrects with a definite head shake. "You makes me feel like I'm someone who is worthy of love - of attention. That what I say is important, the things I do matters, that I am beautiful in every form without me needing to change anything, that I am worth listening to, I'm interesting and fun to be around. You do all that for me and I'm….I'm so grateful that you came into my life."

Emily couldn't bear to sit around anymore when she pulls Alison into her and gives her the tightest hug she's ever given a person. She rests the side of her face alongside the top of Alison's head as she closes her eyes, feeling Alison's choppy breathing against her body. Both their hearts were heavy but, fortunately, in a great way. Every day, more and more, they prove to each other that their relationship is more than the measly title of girlfriends. They shared a true connection that moved them beyond anything else, unlike words can describe.

Dr. Elliott would be lying if she said she didn't feel like Emily and Alison were actual romance characters that she was witnessing playing out in real life. It was one thing to take Alison's word about Emily and how they mesh together but to actually see it – to hear their sincerity and be surrounded by their deep caring for one another, it was a beautiful sight. Especially after everything Alison has suffered.

"There were many moments that we've shared that I knew I was falling for you. Particularly, when you ripped into those third degree wings drenched in suicide sauce without shedding a tear. Not only was it very sexy but it told me you were a woman that knew how to take control."

Alison giggles and slaps Emily's hand as they separate from their hug. Doing so only made Emily's mission to make her laugh accomplished. Any more crying and she was afraid that Dr. Elliott would have to jump on top of her desk to avoid being washed away with their tears. They both take a moment to wipe their eyes as Alison still finds herself chuckling from Emily's remark.

"Please tell me you're not referring to those crazy, hot wings at Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse…" Dr. Elliot curiously questions, halfway concerned.

"The hottest wings in the city. We had four wings each and she was eating them as if they were chicken nuggets while I was two seconds away from screaming bloody murder." Emily responds with a sense of pride for Alison.

"And then you flung sauce into your eye and when I tried to help, I spilled water all over my pants." Alison reminds Emily as she rests her fists balled up with wet tissues in her lap.

"You know, I don't think my eye ever recovered? Sometimes, it'll twitch and get a little hazy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, like right here." Emily widens her eyes and she pulls her bottom left eyelid down as Alison leans in close to inspect. "It's like a very small movement of a tic. I catch it in the mirror sometimes if I don't blink."

"Oh, I think I see it." Alison squints as she examines the eye, moving her head to the side to get a better look.

Dr. Elliott cannot help but to laugh to herself as she watches the girls mumble about Emily's apparently saucy eye.

….

As we've came to realize, medication is still a big part of Alison's life. She may be happy and feel like days are perfect but it's important to _not_ stop taking them just because of that. We do not want a crash. When things are looking up for a constant period of time, we can discuss weening off them. Unfortunately, in this case, Jason-"

"Is a piece of shit that means absolutely nothing to me." Alison cuts into Dr. Elliott's explanation out of defensive reflexes. "I'm not going to let him continue to ruin my life. He's dead to me. I don't care what happens to him at this point."

Dr. Elliott presses her lips together in an understanding nod. "The entire situation microwaved your battling depression and the lack of taking care of yourself afterwards allowed your thoughts to really mess with you."

"I'm sorry but…" Emily slowly raises her hand to ask for permission to give her input.

"Yes, Emily?"

"I do not think Ali's dream was a dream but actually a vison, honest to God."

Both of Dr. Elliott's eyebrows raises and Alison twists to look at Emily who glances at both of them with worry written all over her face.

"Alison is very intuitive. She's very smart and is in-tuned with her surroundings. She's always been that way and that's why she's knows how to work people. She picks up on things quicker than most. Although nothing has happened, I feel like her spirit knows something will….if-if that makes sense."

The room is quiet with nobody knowing exactly how to respond to Emily's idea but she continues on with her train of thought, turning her body towards Alison.

"You've done it before with your dreams and I've now just pieced it together in a theory I created last night." she begins. "That one nightmare. The dream about Jason deliberately sanding his face off? That was telling you that he was changing himself into someone you won't be able to recognize. And blood that was spraying from the vents, shooting all over the house? The house represented your home, your safe place, and _his_ blood soaking through the walls meant that _he_ was going to tarnish it. Then, you have when Jason was decapitated. That was straight up telling you that he was going to die. Figuratively. That whole nightmare was actually a vision, covered by symbolism, of Jason being cut out of your life by his own doing."

Alison is rendered speechless by Emily's speculation, never ever thinking that deep about a dream she desperately tried to forget.

"Then you saw a demonic spirit in your closet after the dream. I may be reaching here but you said you felt uneasy and ill once you felt the presence of that thing, right?"

"Yes."

"Ironically enough, it came from the closet. The same closet Jason ended up raiding. That closet had a bad energy inside of it to begin with because of the thousands of dollars' worth of Jason's money you had stuffed in there. The same money Jason would come for. I think that bad energy manifested into something you could see. Like your subconscious peeling back the dimensions of our world and giving you a warning of something evil."

Alison's eyes fall as she tries to process everything but ends up looking at Dr. Elliott who is just as wordless as she is. Emily awkwardly runs a hand through her hair as she leaned back away from being so close to Alison.

"I'm sorry." she cringed. "I know I sound like a raging conspiracy theorist right now."

Dr. Elliott waves away Emily's doubt, taking off her glasses, folding them, and placing it on top of her notepad. "Oh no, continue. This is actually _very_ intriguing."

Emily exhales a sigh before she swallowed down, looking back to Alison.

"I feel like that dream you had yesterday was a clear cut vision with no symbolism to mask it. You saw that guy coming out of the building, your eyes immediately locked, and you felt something. To your outer-self, you brushed it off and just thought about how pretty his eyes were. But, your subconscious knew something was off about him. That's why it was stored in the back of your memory and then came to light when you least expected it to. We already know Jason had people in your apartment so would it be far-fetched that he was in it too?"

"I….I…" Alison stammers out, holding Emily's eyes but not knowing how to follow up with so much information. "I guess so?"

"It might be something or it might be nothing. But I would rather be safe than sorry. That line about making your death look like a suicide scared the hell out of me, Ali." Emily crosses her arms as it was her turn to look away, staring down at the pinstripes on her jeans. "The shiver that went through my body made it hard to sleep that night. After that, I do _not_ trust for you to be in that apartment anymore. It's too risky. We don't know who Jason knows or what kind of reputation he has with them."

Alison nods her head in agreement as Emily suddenly digs her hand into her front pocket.

"I know I was a little late coming here because of the job but it was also because of this." she pulls out a silver metal key which instantly captures both Alison and Dr. Elliott's attention. "I want you to move in with me. I talked to Jack, Amy, and Miranda and they said they would help us with your things-only if you want to." Emily quickly adds in to not make it seem as if it was a demand and she didn't have a choice.

"You don't have to if you're not ready. I don't want you to think I only want you to move in strictly because of this….I've wanted you to move in much sooner, if we're being honest." Emily lightly laughs but her smile fades back to seriousness just as quickly. "But now, I'm 100% positive. Not only do I want to keep you safe but….I think we're ready for that step….right?"

Alison extends her palm for Emily to place the key on top of as everyone awaits her answer, despite how silent she is. Emily is especially anxious for the reply when Alison lifts her eyes to match Emily's, a smile spreading across her face as her eyes twinkle.

"You want me to live with you?"

Emily nods with her teeth flashing with delight. "I want you to live with me."

**You didn't really think I was going to leave the ending of Trouvaille with the last update, did you? I…I know you didn't think that. After everything we've been through together, you couldn't have. I'm just going to pretend that you didn't.**

**So, it looks like you've been duped by the evil and warped thoughts of Alison DiLaurentis. Overwhelming amount of stress plus her pre-existing condition would do that. Or? Is it a vision like Emily theorizes? Questions stacked on questions.**

**Thank you for supporting this world and allowing me to create this story for you. I will see you guys in a little bit for our final goodbyes.**

**\- AM**


	36. Q&A

_Questions &amp; Answers_

**Guest:**** "****Do you think Jason regrets what he did to Ali?"**

Right now, I don't believe Jason regrets what he did to Alison. He's at this point of his life where he still blames other people for his life being in shambles. He doesn't fully see the severity of how he hurt Alison and probably will not until much later when he's an older, matured man. And by that time, Alison will have the door locked when he finally comes around. It's going to hurt when he realizes that he let alcohol and drugs damage the relationship he had with both his father and sister and now has absolutely no one. It's a very sad way to live but he had Alison giving everything to him and he felt it wasn't enough. The blood is on his hands and his hands only.

**Curious George: "Can you give us...three inside looks as to how Jason came up with the idea to scam Ali from right under her nose?"**

Oh, do I have the urge this out write it out in detail haha. But here are three occurrences that took place that Alison had no knowledge of.

_What Cece meant to Jason:_ Cece and Jason have been dating for years, unbeknownst to Alison. However, although dating, they had a few issues. Jason did not lie when he said he was homeless. He technically was. Cece shared an apartment with a roommate and sometimes Jason would crash there. Problem was: Jason got used to staying in Cece's small room, using up the water, electricity, and eating the food, all without helping to pay rent. The roommate (who was a stranger, not a friend to neither of them) didn't like the fact that they had a freeloader in the apartment so he was kicked out after some time of staying there. Cece is just getting by herself and can't really carry him on her back. Jason was jumping from job to job and couldn't afford to pay for his own place so he couch surfed at friends' places until he ran out of luck and had to stay at shelters. It was Cece's idea to try to make amends with Alison and stay with her until he finds his footing.

_Every day when Ali would drop Jason off at his program:_ There was no program. Jason would just pick up pamphlets from random places and make it seem like he was doing something. But in actuality? Jason was spending his time hanging out with some pretty unsavory characters. He would sell drugs, buy them, and chill around doing nothing reproductive as he was making it seem like. Jason also likes to drink. He loves to drink. However, once he found out Emily was around and was like a guard dog that could probably smell him, he would take those hours "at his program" to drink, despite Alison's rules. He was smart enough not to get drunk but it didn't stop him from wanting a little feel good. Sometimes, he would sneak tiny sips of alcohol or take small hits of drugs at Alison's by hiding things in his bag. Why do you think he would be in the bathroom all the time?

_Jason's act of becoming a good brother_: Key word here is act. And who helped orchestrate this? Cece. Jason's main goal of going to Alison's place was to seek shelter and ask for money. Things all changed one day when he found an entire stash of pills that he knew he could make a pretty buck selling. He told Cece of this and together they came up with the plan of keeping Ali's trust so they can have access to her things. Cece essentially ran the show, she was the brains, Jason was the action. It was Cece's idea to have a dinner. It was her idea to put on a performance about how much Jason loved Ali. Jason didn't even cook the food, Cece did. While Emily and Alison were sexing it up, Cece was in Alison's apartment, cooking, going over "lines" of what Jason will say, and telling him exactly how he should handle Emily. In the process, she even gave him a small takes of ecstasy to ease him and make him more emotional. This way he's happier, more playful, more everything he needs to be so he can come off as a loving brother who cares for his younger sister. Although the perfect and foolproof plan, Emily knew something was off that night….

**Lunaplata07: "Are we going to get to see their New York trip?"**

Fashion Week is still on! Book two will include that right from the beginning. That trip kind of sets the tone for the continued story. Who do we know that happens to live in New York? Hmm…

"**Is their relationship with Hanna going to improve?"**

Will it? Last we've seen, Ali and Hanna had this secret agreement about their places in Emily's life. Might be interesting to see how things play out. Also! I want to say that although so much has happened, Trouvaille is a day-by-day story. That means what you feel like has been months might only have been a few weeks unless stated otherwise. With that being said, If Emison comes across Hanna, it's only been about a month since the girls surprised Emily at her place so their deal is still pretty fresh. Difference is: Alison is way much more secure within her relationship with Emily.

"**Will be there a chance to see Emily's parents getting to know about Alison?"**

Y-E-S. Emily is all about family and she's definitely going to let her family know about Alison since they both know they're serious. However, last time Pam and Wayne knew anything about Emily's love life, Paige was still in the picture aka Virginia. She'll obviously explain the change but the Fields lived in Rosewood and they know all about the DiLaurentis'. Alison especially. I don't think her parents will give her a hard time like the girls, though because they know Emily and her judgement with people. But it will be new.

**Proprocrastinator: "What about Sinner's Lullaby?"**

Sinner's Lullaby is back on track, my friend. The reason why it hasn't been updated in a while is because I wanted to focus on ending this story first. The last thing I wanted to do is get excited with a brand new world and forget about this one. So with that, I released the prologue and made sure this story was completely finished before I started back into the new universe**.**

**Emison Addict: "You mentioned a few updates back about a new side story you were doing called Art of Attraction. What's that going to be about? Why would we take cold showers reading it?!"**

Art of Attraction is different than any story I've done before, to be real with you all. It is a short but pretty packed story taking place with college Emison, however, this is a different twist than you probably think. The writing of Emily and Alison's characters are _much_ different from Trouvaille which is fun to explore. To spill a little tea on what you can expect, Emily is a Yale graduate student fascinated with the world of science while Alison is an undergrad, looking to pursue her love for drama. Alison, in this story, is THE Alison DiLaurentis in all her glory minus the "heartless bitch" trait. She has a strong head on her shoulders and knows exactly what she wants out of life. Emily, on the other hand, isn't much of a dominate personality. In fact, in this story, Emily is all about her education and likes to keep to herself when she can. Some people would probably classify Emily as a "nerd" – a technically bright but socially inept person, spending excessive amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, abstract, or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy compared to more mainstream activities. So, while Alison is out having a good time partying, Emily would most likely be watching documentaries on Youtube with a bag of carrots.

The two collide when Emily and Ezra decide to boost their resumes while making money by tutoring Yale undergrads. Although hesitant to do so, Emily makes up for it with her love for science and hopes to help and change the outlook of those who are struggling with the subject. In her tutoring sessions she comes across Alison who finds Emily and her seemingly immense knowledge intriguing and much more stimulating than the people she's constantly surrounded by. There is just something about how Emily can fill her brain with new information whenever she talks….it's almost exciting as Alison likes when she's not the smartest person in the room every time she enters it.

Why did I say you'll be needing frequent cold showers? Maybe….because….it's a smut story. A piece of fiction with a nice plot and good set of characters…..but has a lot of smut. That's what Art of Attraction is. Oh, and it's also a G!P story. Woah, what a curve ball, huh? Are you weirded out? Are you fanning yourself at the thought? Well, it's certainly a new territory for me but I like expanding my limits and not being conformed by what I believe to be "predictable". I'm going to see what I can bring to the table with this. Hopefully, you can join me on this little adventure ;)


	37. A Letter For You

_A Letter For You_

When you think of AM, what do you see? Am I tall? Am I short? Do I have pale skin? Maybe darker? You've heard that I was a college student – am I young or perhaps older with kids that I've never mentioned? Am I married? Have I sworn off the human race and dedicating my life to giving my love to old, vintage cars? I could be anyone – someone you know, someone you've seen on social media before…maybe I'm a famous person that has a secret life of being a fangirl that writes fanfiction.

But if there's one thing that you should know about me…

I used to be one of those Anti-Alison/Anti-Emison fans of Pretty Little Liars. You probably would have never guess that, would you? But I was. I felt Alison was awfully manipulative and incapable of truly caring for anyone while Emily was like a puppy in her gaze who'd do anything for her. There is no way "Emison" could be a thing. It's unrequited. It's toxic. It's not fair to Emily.

However, all it took was one day of me saying, _"What's the hype with Emison, anyways?"_ and curiously spying onto Emison fanfiction…

Once I started reading the worlds people would create and how they would portray Alison as a person who recognizes her mistakes, and has grown without erasing her past, that's when I realized it's not so much of Alison not having the ability to truly love someone but the writers of PLL's incapability to write Alison correctly. Even now, in their last season, it's as if they don't know what to do with her. She's either a fashionable bitch with sass or she's a clueless secondary character who dresses like an indecisive 35 year old soccer mom with no self-esteem – such two extremes, never a well-balance. And when they tried to bring that "sass" back towards Paige, she ended up coming across as a bully, once again. The writers honestly don't know how to write Alison, Emily, nor Emison with justice like they claim to. Not at all. And that's why people outside the Emison fandom still sees: Alison as manipulative, Emily with no backbone and Emison as complete fan service instead of seeing Alison trying to understand herself, Emily afraid of rejection/allowing Alison space, and Emison as a ship that was always there under the surface but neither characters knew how to approach it.

And If I didn't deeply understand the characters and erase the writers' version of what they believe "romance" and emotions are, I would have been right on board with being Anti-Emison. But luckily I didn't.

All because of May 30th.

Season 5 just ended, I started seeing Emison in a different light and now the theorist in me is watching past episodes, studying Emily and Alison's characters like they on America's "Most Dangerous" list and I was the agent assigned to their case. After taking literal notes on them, I created multiple of scenarios as to how to write a story with them being the main attraction. Nothing lasted more than 20 minutes and I would keep backspacing whatever I typed – the electronic version of writing on a piece of paper, waddling it up, and tossing it over your shoulder to a small trash bin overflowing with failed ideas. Then something started to click when I came across the plot of a 22 year old Emily being a bartender/student while 21 year old Alison works as a Lush employee/fashion design student.

That's when I finished editing the very first chapter of Trouvaille on Saturday May 30th at 12:28am and updated it shortly after.

Being my first ever fanfiction/public piece of literature, I was absolutely terrified. I'm brand new to this fandom. What if they don't like it? What if this kind of story has been done before and they're tired of it? What if I got the characterizations wrong and they call me out for it? What if this? What if that? I went to sleep coming up with the worst case scenarios as how this story was going to be received.

**I could ship that** chapter 1. May 1, 2015

"Looking forward to this story! Love your writing style! If you update frequently I'll like you even more!"

My first ever review. I don't think you understand the elation I felt that day, seeing a notification and reading your comment, I could ship that. You and a couple others such as Emison and InLoveWithEmison made me feel an emotion as a new writer that I would cherish years later. Two years and a few weeks later, I am able to peacefully end the first chapter of a wonderful journey that I'm so very thankful you guys allowed me to create.

For those who were with me since the very beginning: I thank you motivating me and pushing me to be the best I can be. You've watched me grow from a shy writer to a shameless author who has found their favorite pastime of crafting worlds away from ours, bringing life to all kinds of characters and ideas, and giving them to you to experience. We didn't expect this story to blossom the way it did but with your support, it formed into something beautiful.

For those who were with me from the middle: I thank you for jumping on this train and giving me hope to keep on chugging. There have been many of times where I've felt like not continuing. I've felt like I've maxed out, cannot create more than I have, lack the imagination and can bring nothing but scraps to the table. You guys endured the cringy writings and endless typos yet still reread the story and remind me how much you love it and wish to see it continue. And so I did.

For those who were with me towards the end: I thank you for expressing to me how you've binged the story and can't get enough of it. Getting notifications in the middle of the night to sometime during the day of long reviews saying how you just came across the story and locked yourself up to read the 200k+ words not only tickles me but warms me as well. Knowing you're reading from Indonesia, Sweden, Turkey, the Philippines, Singapore, and all over the world still blows my mind. In many words you have told me that I'm doing a good job and I deeply appreciate it.

And for those who are reading this story after it's long completed: I thank you for giving my story a read and hopefully you've enjoyed the world I brought to you! Fortunately for you, you get the Netflix treatment. You are able to whiz through the chapters, feel all kinds of emotions, and witness the growth of love without having to wait months for me to update like the other poor souls who've met me earlier.

Thank you for letting me be your author during the early mornings to the late nights. Reading this story during your good and cheerful days and even during those days when everything is going wrong and you just need to escape; thank you for allowing me to be that solace for you. You might not know this but every single review left by all of you puts the biggest smile on my face for the entire day. From the nice comments to the fangirling and the long, breakdown reviews that analyze everything, you all give me life. I never get tired of the stories of your lives that you guys share with me and how Trouvaille helps you get through the days. I never in a billion years thought that my story would even leave the U.S. let alone touch so many people in countries that I wish to visit. It's a surreal emotion to describe but I honestly feel so close to you all. You guys humble me and I will never take any of you for granted.

You all are the friends I've never had.

To all the writers, artists, or anyone who is doing anything in their life, those who are scared and feel like your work isn't good enough to hang with "The Greatest", if I could offer one piece of advice that really helped me:

_Do not compare your work to others._

This is not only for writing but can be apply to life as well. Everyone has their own lane. Everyone has their own time. You cannot get to your goal if your eyes are focusing on everyone around you and what they're doing. Keep your sights forward and concentrated. Do not be afraid to stumble and trip along the way. Battle scars are something to be proud of. It shows that you've been through heavy times but still kept going. Every single writer, every single person you see, whether famous, rich, unknown or local, they've all failed at several points of their lives no matter how perfect they seem or how flawless their work is. To you, you see yourself at the bottom of the totem pole because you are comparing your behind the scenes/blooper footage to other's highlight reels that are made to only show off the best of them.

Trust your instincts. Take your time. You will not be lost forever.

Trouvaille has hit over 110k views since we've first began and it's all because of you guys. For now, we leave Emison moving in with each other and eyes set on their week of fashion in New York. While this book may be completed, book 2 has another untouched world that, I believe, you'll fall even more in love with.

If you ever need to "feel again" -a laugh or just a place to lose yourself in- do not hesitate to hit replay on your favorite moments of this story. This playground we've built together is all yours.

See you in another universe.  
Your friend, AM.


End file.
